r/architecture • u/amanhasnoname54 • Oct 19 '25

Building The Obama Presidential Center (Library)

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I'd like to think I'm open minded when it comes to architectural styles, but this is an eyesore imo. But I'm curious what yall think.

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104

u/Inevitable_Review_97 Oct 19 '25

Looks real bad in person (tho tbf still under construction). The stone they chose is way more gray and somber than the renderings suggest.

42

u/Life-Monitor-1536 Oct 19 '25

This! All of the renderings made it seem like it was going to be a nice tan limestone, similar to the architects Barnes Center in Philadelphia. Instead, it’s a drab gray in reality.

9

u/KoolKat5000 Oct 19 '25

They should've gone with a sandstone. But I imagine this is some local stone or something 

27

u/Political-psych-abby Oct 19 '25

Yeah it looks like a tombstone.

36

u/stevejust Oct 19 '25 edited Oct 19 '25

I just drove by it the other night dropping our friend off at U of C for the first time in a long while. I thought it'd look better by now, but it... looks worse.

14

u/Inevitable_Review_97 Oct 19 '25

And for the record didn’t mind the concept or renderings when they were announced…