When viewed from above, the site envisioned as the future home of the Barack Obama Presidential Center offers a tantalizing opportunity to interconnect and strengthen existing institutions on the South Side, creating a vibrant and thriving whole, greater than the sum of its parts.  The shared efforts and resources of these institutions, already strong on an individual basis, could be revolutionary for the South Side.

The specific location can be seen as the missing link in a catena of institutes, connecting the University of Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the McCormick Place convention center, and downtown Chicago via the electrified spine of the CTA Green Line.  Future mass transit along 55th Street / Garfield Boulevard will connect to the University of Chicago, further ensuring that this location in the Washington Park community remains a vital hub of activity, in turn bringing new life and economic vitality to the area.

As mentioned previously, the majority of the land shown in the diagram above is owned by the City of Chicago and the University of Chicago, having been previously offered to the Obama Foundation for this very purpose.  The Twin Embraces use of land deviates from the original proposal in only a few deliberate ways:  First, it does not propose to demolish any existing historic structures, weaving around (and strengthening) the remaining urban context on South Calumet Avenue, as is seen above.  Second, the plan envisions a collaborative, unified community experience that would be possible were the Presidential Center, the City of Chicago, and the University of Chicago to collaborate on an overarching plan for the area.  In this spirit, the Twin Embraces plan extends to the south side of Garfield Boulevard, where the University’s Arts Block, already underway, can blend together with the cultural offerings in the Presidential Center.