This design and development option studio will explore the urban design impacts of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) and its ability to act as a catalyst for the equitable redevelopment of the Woodlawn neighborhood in the heart of the Southside of Chicago.

The Obama Presidential Center, set to open in 2026, and the greater Jackson Park district are currently under construction and represent over a billion-dollar investment in Chicago’s Southside. It was conceived of by former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as a promise to positively transform the Southside and the future of the Woodlawn neighborhood. The studio will explore gateway sites in close proximity to the OPC and what an equitable future urban design framework for the Woodlawn neighborhood might look like.

The studio will leverage the excitement and energy of the future Obama Presidential Center to reimagine the 63rd Street corridor and Stony Island Avenue as a mixed-use, mixed-income, and mixed-density district, linking the Woodlawn Community to Jackson Park and beyond through economic development and urban design improvements.

Importantly, the intent of this project is for your team to actively engage the tension between aspiration and feasibility, normative planning outcomes and market forces, large design interventions and cost constraints. Teams comprised of policy experts, architects and planners, businesspeople, and lawyers combine forces daily in an attempt to deliver improvements on the built environment–ultimately for the benefit of people. You are joining the ranks this spring.

The studio goals involve addressing the dual mandate of meeting design goals and feasibility constraints (financial, physical, sustainable, etc.):
• To promote equitable and inclusive development near the Obama Presidential Center that leverages external capital to invest in the community, build local wealth, and provide economic development opportunities.
• To explore Jackson Park as a continuation of the rich Chicago culture of high-density, mixed-use development, defining the urban edges of the City’s great parks. The target would be to create greater density along 63rd Street, east of the Metra tracks, and along Stony Island Avenue.
• To reimagine a new vision of Stony Island Avenue as a Great Urban Street–a major public promenade connecting the Woodlawn Community to Jackson Park and the Obama Presidential Center.
• To re-establish 63rd Street as the gateway to the Woodlawn neighborhood and promote its redevelopment while respecting community heritage.