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In the paper today, \u201cRevised Obama center design seeks better fit with park and answer to critics<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing criticism that their plans would undermine the serene landscape of historic Jackson Park, backers of the Obama Presidential Center on Tuesday revealed major revisions that include a sleeker version of the center\u2019s controversial museum tower.<\/p>\n The new tower design calls for a high-rise that would be taller, thinner and more transparent than a version unveiled last May, which was widely panned as monolithic and pyramidlike. Portions of the revamped tower\u2019s outside walls would consist of screens made of stone letters, making the tower airier while suggesting the importance of words in Barack Obama\u2019s presidency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which motivated me to go back to the website and re-read the descriptions of the museum.\u00a0 Regular readers will know that I\u2019ve been skeptical of the whole project, including Obama boosters\u2019 dreams<\/a> that the museum and Obama himself will revitalize the South Side of Chicago, the Madigan proposal<\/a> to spend $100 million on its construction, and the vagueness about the content of the museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m still not seeing anything that really encourages me about the \u201cCenter.\u201d<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t a presidential library, in the sense of storing Obama\u2019s records.\u00a0 That\u2019s going to continue to be done by the National Archives and Records Administration<\/a>, at some federal facility, with only digitized versions of those records available at the Center.<\/p>\n It will, in part, be a museum, with exhibit space in the \u201ctower\u201d portion of the campus that, according to obama.org<\/a>,<\/p>\n \u00a0will house exhibitions that tell the Obamas\u2019 story, as situated within the context of history: civil rights history, African-American history, the history of Chicago, and United States history.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is where I ask myself, how will this museum fit in with the existing museum-space of Chicago?\u00a0 We already have a Chicago History Museum<\/a>, admission $16 (increasing to $19 after a just-approved fee hike<\/a>).\u00a0 We have the DuSable Museum of African American History<\/a>, admission $10.\u00a0 Will the Obama Center be competing with these museums?\u00a0 How much floor space will be devoted to the traditional museum exhibits, and how will this be balanced between the\u00a0\u201cObama\u2019s story\u201d \u2014 and how will they make \u201cboy growing up mostly with wealthy grandparents and attending pricey universities\u201d into an inspirational tale?\u00a0 How will they transform 8 years in the White House into something edifying and attention-grabbing?\u00a0 \u00a0The Obama website offers some clues in the tiles in its \u201cOur Story\u201d section<\/a>: Chicago: Where It Began, Life at the White House, American Leadership, Economic Progress, Health Care, Equality & Social Progress, Climate & Energy, and Our First Tech President.\u00a0 But how do you fashion these into compelling exhibit areas, without falling in to the too-common trap now of simply placing a bunch of monitors with video displays and calling it \u201cinteractive\u201d?<\/p>\n And bear in mind that their projected annual attendance, 625,000 \u2013 700,000<\/a>, is about the level of the Adler Planetarium, and substantially higher than presidential museums have a track record of<\/a>; the highest-attendance museum is the George W. Bush museum, at about 450,000 presumably because it\u2019s pretty new; other high-attendance museums are the Reagan museum, at about 400,000 (remember, they have Air Force One), and the Clinton museum, at 350,000.\u00a0 To be sure, Chicago has a larger population to draw from, but, at the same time, we have more museums competing for attention.\u00a0 In the end, presidential museums seem to keep visitor numbers up by\u00a0sponsoring special exhibits with a limited connection to the overall topic of the museum and by bringing in school classes on field trips, which tend to be free of charge.<\/p>\n Beyond this optimistic attendance assumption, the notion that this museum will lead to the revival of the South Side seems like mostly wishful thinking \u2014 except, of course, to the extent that the occasion of the museum\u00a0construction or the general city infrastructure spending or the pressure applied to corporations leads them to initiate building projects in the area.\u00a0 Tourists may perhaps add a day onto their trip, but they\u2019re not likely to stay overnight in the vicinity of the museum, but just at the same hotel they\u2019ve been staying at \u2014 and, quite honestly, given the rates and the taxes for city hotels, I wonder how many tourists stay in the city in the first place.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s just the museum\/exhibit space proper.\u00a0 And the plans for the Center <\/a>are much more ambitious than that:\u00a0 part of the tower will be the museum.<\/p>\n The rest of the building will be filled with other public spaces, including the top floor which will feature a reflective observation space that will be free and open to the public, with spectacular views of Lake Michigan and Jackson Park.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There will also be a second building, two story, called the Forum.<\/p>\n The Forum is two-story public meeting space, with one story above grade and one below ground, where people of all backgrounds can come together for programming. Visitors might take in a performance in the auditorium, create something in the broadcast studio, visit the public winter garden, or even grab a bite to eat in the restaurant. Like much of the Campus, the majority of this space will be free and open to the public.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to a Tribune column<\/a>, this building is also slated to have a \u201ctest kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n There will also be what\u2019s being called a \u201clibrary building\u201d even though there won\u2019t be any document repository.<\/p>\n The Library Building is the third main building of the campus \u2014 a portal for visitors to engage with the world beyond the Obama Presidential Center. More than a building housing documents from the past, we want this to be a place for visitors to play a real role in building our collective future. With that in mind, to tap into the existing learning network within the city, the Foundation is currently exploring the possibility of a partnership with the Chicago Public Library.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which makes it sound as if they don\u2019t really know what they\u2019ll do with this building.\u00a0 After all, there are multiple library branches in that part of town<\/a>, including one just a bit south.<\/p>\n Oh, and there will be an Athletic Center.<\/p>\n The Athletic Center will invite the community to take part in physical activity year round, highlighting the importance of teamwork and exercise through sports. It will provide opportunities for programming partnerships with local institutions, including Hyde Park Academy, the South Side YMCA, and the Chicago Park District Field House.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n