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Obama's Presidential Library Should Be An 'Urban Campus,' IIT Prof Says

By Sam Cholke | June 4, 2014 5:45am | Updated on June 4, 2014 7:56am
 On June 11, IIT architecture professor Marshall Brown will talk about multiple scenarios he's indentified for building the Barack Obama Presidential Library in Chicago.
On June 11, IIT architecture professor Marshall Brown will talk about multiple scenarios he's indentified for building the Barack Obama Presidential Library in Chicago.
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Tim Brown Architecture

HYDE PARK — Illinois Institute of Technology Associate Professor Marshall Brown will explain how the Barack Obama Library can be harmoniously integrated into the South Side during a June 11 lecture.

Brown, an architect and urban planner, will talk about how the possibility of the library being located on the South Side could be successfully used to spark more than just economic development if its planning is done carefully.

"Presidential libraries should be understood as campuses, not just architectural objects, so the real question is one of urban design," Brown said in an essay in the May issue of Metropolis Magazine. "Given President Obama’s reputation as an urban president for an urban world, the library should be developed as an urban campus, with a strong integration between buildings, landscape and infrastructure."

He will discuss the scenarios he’s developed for the library at 5:30 p.m. in the McCormick Tribune Campus Center auditorium, 3201 S. State St.

"There are several, if not many, sites around Chicago that could be fantastic locations for a presidential library," Brown says in his essay. "But the public discussion so far has been crowded with the voices of self-interested parties, too quickly concerned with dreams of economic investments and institutional prestige."

Brown will take questions from the audience after his presentation.

The University of Chicago is lobbying for the library to be located along the south lakefront against competing bids from New York City and Hawaii — as well as several other proposed locations in Chicago.

Proposals are due on June 16 to the Barack Obama Foundation, which is tasked with providing a recommendation to the president.

Space at Brown's lecture limited, and those who would like to attend should e-mail rsvpevents@iit.edu or call 312-567-5030 to reserve a spot.

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