Photos from the construction of the new Barack Obama Presidential Library in Chicago are going viral online…for all the wrong reasons.
Featuring brutalist, dystopian architecture that puts Orwell’s 1984 to shame, there’s no other way to put it.
This thing is freaking ugly.
Just take a look at this monstrosity:
The same people who think this is a work of art are worried about Trump building a ballroom. . pic.twitter.com/9hLVfrTGj4
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) August 2, 2025
Benny Johnson visited the site in-person.
This was his reaction:
I’m in Chicago and unfortunately stumbled upon Obama’s Presidential Library.
Didn’t think it was possible—but it’s even uglier in person.
Stay tuned for the full video… pic.twitter.com/UgFa9keJvB
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 8, 2025
Residents of the area call it an eye sore on the landscape.
I visited the Obama Library site in Chicago.
Words cannot express how ugly it is.
This used to be a beautiful grassy playground and leafy nature trail.
Now it’s a brutalist cement hellscape. The South Side neighborhood residents tell me it’s an eyesore and call it a “trash can” pic.twitter.com/DHtCAgRkRL— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 9, 2025
Apparently, the building is supposed to resemble “four hands coming together.”
I guess it must be very abstract?…
Trade Magazine Dezeen reported:
The Museum Building was designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and joins a number of buildings on the 19-acre Obama Presidential Center campus, also master-planned by the studio.
ADVERTISEMENTDesigned to resemble “four hands coming together”, the building topped out in June 2024 and is currently receiving its outermost shell, as seen in images shared by the Obama Foundation.
Grey granite siding largely covers the exterior, while in other areas – such as in cutaway sections on its upper and lower levels – insulating and protective layers are still exposed.
Not only is the building hideous, but the construction process so far has been a disaster.
Earlier this year, Newsweek said:
The Obama Presidential Center has faced yearslong delays. The center, commemorating the 44th U.S. president, will be a museum, library and education project with community and conference spaces.
The Center has been the core of debates around the gentrification of the South Side neighborhood and Jackson Park. Nonprofits like the Friends of the Parks opposed the loss of parkland and had threatened to sue to block developments, but the plan to build the center was approved shortly after a lawsuit was filed. The Supreme Court denied the request to hear the case in 2021.
Preliminary plans for the center were unveiled in 2017. Construction was expected to begin in late 2018, but it started in 2021. The center is scheduled to open in the first half of 2026.
In 2022, construction of the library was halted for several days after a noose was found on site.
ADVERTISEMENTConcrete work ended in October 2024, according to the Obama Foundation. Obama visited the construction site last June for the “topping off” of the museum building.
The center was first announced with a budget of around $500 million. However, in 2022, the project cost increased to about $830 million. Some suggest it could be even higher.
Let that sink in.
They’re spending $830 million to construct this building that doesn’t even look like a library.
If I had to guess, I’d think it was a grain silo or storage building.
Other folks have compared it to a cartoon villain’s lair, and they’re not wrong:
This is the Obama Presidential Library.
It looks like a house the villain would live in, in a Roald Dahl children's novel. pic.twitter.com/RNEtlDgoLN
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) July 25, 2025
It looks like a damn cartoon villain’s lair! pic.twitter.com/betXkcENVT
— David Knight (@DaveKnight1776) August 9, 2025
— Monterey County Republican Party (@MCGOP_CA) August 3, 2025
This user pointed out that the library bears striking resemblance to Squidward’s house from Spongebob:
The Obama Presidential Library is coming along nicely.
Squidward Tentacles of Bikini Bottom is thrilled to have been consulted on the design. pic.twitter.com/y2lfJRMpXx
— ~ JJ ~ (@jnicolem) July 25, 2025
It also could pass as a federal prison:
Definitely Brutalist architecture that looks like a prison, not a library.
Below is the Canon City federal prison, aka Supermax where we incarcerate terrorists.
Crazy that Obama would want to be the honoree of a facility that looks like it’s full of terrorists. pic.twitter.com/Ve77TYzSfT
— Constitutionally (@Consti2tionAlly) July 25, 2025
Hey, here’s an idea…why don’t we turn it into one?
OK, hear me out for a minute.
Instead of reopening Alcatraz, let’s transform the Obama Library into a prison/museum of the treason & sedition.
Bonus: Live exhibits with the perpetrators in real cells! pic.twitter.com/2h8Nt2HNHG
— Mad Liberals (@mad_liberals) July 28, 2025
The Obama library also gives off distinct Soviet vibes:
Looks like a 1960s Russian prison. Hideous, no esthetic appeal, no character, a perfect reflection of the man.
— Lake Lady (@StandCan8097) July 25, 2025
It reminds me of the Soviet apartment buildings I saw in former USSR states.
Kind of fits.
Ugly, utilitarian, obnoxious, rude, purposefully lacking in beauty.
— Implicit Truths (@CrayCrayBlocker) July 25, 2025
This guy just cut right to the chase:
It looks like a turd with windows.
— American Warrior for Christ (@johnrackham82) August 9, 2025
But hey, there is one silver lining.
At least Obama’s library reflects his presidency:
Barack Obama's presidential library is an ugly communist looking piece of garbage.
Just like his presidency. pic.twitter.com/forwpgWscM
— American Warrior for Christ (@johnrackham82) August 9, 2025
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