Trump Tower vs. Obama Library
Capitalism defeats communism once again.
The tale of two buildings in Chicago says more about American politics than anything. The building above was built by a developer with his own money raised from banks who trusted him after decades of doing business with him. Please note the beauty and light from the 92-story skyscraper. It stands 1,388 feet tall.
It cost $847 million when completed 16 years ago.
The other building is Obama’s presidential library, which is under construction and stands 225 feet tall.
The original estimate was $300 million for construction. The estimate this month is $850 million. It is paid through the Obama Foundation, chaired by Valerie Jarrett. The foundation raises money from rich donors to Obama’s political campaigns to do charitable things like give Valerie Jarett a $740,000 a year job to keep her trap shut.
16 other Obamanauts receive from $251,816 to $610,195 a year. Silence is golden but they really should have taken the money in Bitcoin.
The final product will be a stark, ugly thing that looks like German bunkers at Normandy with a barely legible wordy thing on a corner at the top. The building is coffin-shaped.
It took Trump four years to build his tower. Obama announced his plan eight years ago. The project is moving slightly faster than California’s high-speed rail boondoggle.
Construction of former President Barack Obama’s long-awaited library and museum in Chicago began with ambitious plans for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) but is now plagued by huge cost overruns, delays and a $40.75-million, racially charged lawsuit filed by a minority contractor.
From the outset, the endeavor touted DEI as a key part of enshrining Obama’s legacy at the 19.3-acre site, where costs have ballooned from an initial $350 million to $830 million in 2021 based on its previous annual reports, with no publicly available figures available for updated projected costs. The project set out “ambitious goals” for certain construction diversity quotas, with its contracts to be allocated to “diverse suppliers,” 35% of which were required to be minority-based enterprises (MBEs).
“With these aggressive goals, the foundation is hoping to set a new precedent for diversity and inclusion in major construction projects in Chicago and beyond,” the Obama Foundation wrote in a 2017 press release.
The importance of DEI was cited on several occasions in an explosive lawsuit filed last month by Robert McGee, the Black co-owner of II in One Construction. The firm is a minority-owned business subcontractor that provided concrete and rebar services for the center.
It is not clear what role DEI quotas played in the hiring of II In One as a subcontractor. II In One was one of three firms that made up a joint venture called Concrete Collective. The other firms included another minority firm called Trice Construction Company along with W.E. O’Neil. Together they formed a 51% minority-led joint-venture team.
McGee alleged that he and his firm were racially discriminated against by Thornton Tomasetti, a New York-based company that oversees structural engineering and design services.
The first black president is now the first president accused of racial discrimination against black subcontractors. DEI has become as poisonous as DUI in politics.
The Chicago Architecture Center’s review of Trump’s tower began:
When our docents explain that the Trump International Hotel & Tower reflects its surroundings, they aren’t only referring to its shiny glass and steel exterior.
The reflection they’re referring to isn’t only a literal one. When the Chicago architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) envisioned this contemporary tower, the building’s place and neighbors influenced its design. While it is true that the building’s materials mirror its neighbors, it can also be argued that its design communicates its relationship to them.
The Trump Tower is designed with three setbacks. Each setback points toward an architecturally significant neighbor. The setbacks allow for “communication” with surrounding buildings. At 16 stories, the first is to the east of Trump Tower and corresponds to the height of the Wrigley Building. At 29 stories, the second points both north toward River Plaza and west to Marina City. All the way up at 51 stories, the third setback is west of Trump Tower and relates with Mies’ last Chicago project, 330 N. Wabash Ave.
The building fits in with the rest of the buildings.
The Obama library looks like it is one of the things that is not like the others. It displays all the warmth of a modern McDonald’s.
The new Stalinist design of the restaurants is really why customers are fleeing. The $10 Big Mac is just an excuse. Bring back the tacky and garish red and yellow plastic with a playland for children and people will gladly pay $20.
Obama is making a statement with his coffin in Chicago.
Trump made a profit with his 92-story Trump Tower in Chicago. They are not the same because one is an American and the other is a communist.
Builders vs destroyers...
Would even Dems got to Biden’s library?! He’s such an embarrassment. Obama’s looks like the hideous Brutalism architecture?? I think that’s the right term? Blocky and ugly. And wow, fitting with his policies, it’s a money pit. It’s the Obamacare of architecture.