The message of material: How the Obama Center gets built looms large

It would be going too far to say that the Chicago Plan Commission didn’t know what it was voting for when its members overwhelmingly endorsed the proposed Obama Presidential Center on Thursday. But in a way, that’s what happened. One of the architects even said so afterward.

The “outline has been approved,” New York architect Billie Tsien, who is co-designing the center with her husband Tod Williams, said in an interview. “But the novel has yet to be written.”

Here’s what that means: The architects have a general notion of what the museum is going to look like, but essential decisions are to be made. Among the most crucial is selecting the stone that will cover the exterior of the center’s buildings, especially its 235-foot, slant-walled museum tower, which the architects envision as the complex’s iconic centerpiece and a symbol of a revitalized South Side.

“We’re looking for stone that is warm in color, durable and affordable,” Tsien said, adding that Williams would soon be visiting a quarry in search of the right material.

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