Obama’s 450-car parking garage will take up about five acres of Chicago’s historic Jackson Park and, despite local opposition, it’s not moving — at least for now.
Part of the Obama Presidential Center, the garage sits atop Midway Plaisance, an area that connects Jackson Park to Washington Park and, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, it was the location of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, according to Architect’s Newspaper.
The outcry from preservationists and locals on the South Side in Chicago, where the park and center are located, prompted the center’s landscape architect to incorporate new land masses that will effectively hide the parking garage’s structure along with rooftop spaces dedicated to recreation and further public green spaces.
The plans for the garage still have yet to be approved by the city and the center as a whole faces a federal review.
[Architect’s Newspaper] — Erin Hudson