In March of 2014 The Barack Obama Foundation issued a request for proposal for potential partners to host the Barack Obama Presidential Library. The University of Illinois at Chicago partnered with the Community of North Lawndale to develop and submit a response. Studio/lab served as the base of operations for this collective effort.
Our proposal set out to re-imagine what a presidential library could become, asking not simply where the Library should go, but rather what it might do. We offered a vision where the Library is not on a site, but of a site — where the energy of the city enters the Library and the knowledge and discourse instigated within moves out to the city, the nation, and the world.
Our proposal set out to re-imagine what a presidential library could become, asking not simply where the Library should go, but rather what it might do. We offered a vision where the Library is not on a site, but of a site — where the energy of the city enters the Library and the knowledge and discourse instigated within moves out to the city, the nation, and the world.
