If any architecture firm can navigate the cultural politics of the Obama Foundation seizing cultural park space to build President Obama’s library, it’s Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. According to theChicago Tribune, Williams and Tsien will have some say in choosing the site. It’s almost as if the president has applied his overriding preference for calm and compromise—as he displayed recently with the nomination of the moderately conservative judge Garland Merrick to the U.S. Supreme Court—to the business of picking out architecture.
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Mayor Rahm Emanuel hailed the selection of both architectural firms, saying they had track records of creating innovative civic projects. He called the presidential center project a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for all Chicagoans.
Nevertheless, the architects will face myriad challenges — whichever site is chosen. They range from maintaining the integrity of the historic parkland to striking a balance between the Obamas' desire for a welcoming facility and the need to meet federal security mandates.
Before the selection process began, speculation was rife that the prestigious commission would go to the Tanzanian-born, London-based architect David Adjaye, who sat with the president at a 2012 White House dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron. Adjaye was among those on the shortlist.
The selection process hinged as much on the relationship between the architects and the Obamas as on the ideas that were presented.
"It was an exploration of chemistry between the architects and the president and first lady," Nesbitt said.
Williams, 73, and Tsien, 66, declined an interview request Thursday.
Thursday's announcement marked the latest milestone in the development of the presidential center, though it did not settle the question of which South Side park it will be built in. The architects will help make that decision, which may come later this year.
"Very soon," Nesbitt said.