* 돌에 새긴 약속 [ Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects ] Obama Presidential Center

"건축은 시간이 멈춘 음악이다."— 요한 볼프강 폰 괴테 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects completes "intentionally sculptural" Obama Presidential Center

대지에 뿌리내린 이상
시카고 사우스 사이드(Chicago's South Side)의 하늘을 향해 솟아오른 이 구조물은, 한 사람의 여정을 돌로 번역한 결과물이다. 오바마 대통령 센터(Obama Presidential Center)는 버락 오바마(Barack Obama) 전 대통령이 퇴임한 지 십 년 만에 마침내 방문객을 맞이하며 잭슨 파크(Jackson Park) 북서쪽 19.3에이커의 땅 위에 자리를 잡았다. 대지를 굽이굽이 가로지르는 구불구불한 산책로, 낮은 구릉처럼 솟아오른 잔디 언덕, 마이클 반 발켄버그(Michael Van Valkenburgh)가 설계한 섬세한 조경이 캠퍼스 전체를 감싸고 있다. 그 풍경 속에서 부속 건물들은 스스로를 대지 안으로 낮추며 조용히 물러서고, 오직 타워만이 69미터 높이로 하늘을 향해 우뚝 선다.


돌로 빚은 기념비
타워는 모놀리스(monolith), 즉 거대한 단일 덩어리처럼 서 있다. 뉴햄프셔(New Hampshire)산 화강암이 건물 전체를 감싸고, 비가 내리면 깊게 가라앉고 햇살이 쏟아지면 환하게 빛나는 그 돌의 표정은 날씨와 함께 감정을 품는다. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects(TWBTA)의 공동 창립자 토드 윌리엄스(Tod Williams)는 이 재료의 선택에 대해 "화강암이 건물을 감성적으로 만든다"고 말한다. 외벽에는 절개창을 절제 있게 배치했다. 커다란 유리면 대신 좁고 깊게 파인 창들이 입면에 조형적 긴장을 더하며, 건물 전체는 네 면이 모두 다른 표정을 지닌다. 윌리엄스는 이 형태를 두고 "수직으로 마주 잡은 네 손의 형상"이라고 설명하며, 아이콘으로 기억될 수 있는 조각적 존재감을 의도했다고 밝힌다. 창이 많지 않아도 되었기에, 그 자유로움 속에서 건물은 더욱 담대하게 조형성을 추구할 수 있었다.


언어가 건축이 되는 순간
타워를 더욱 특별하게 만드는 것은 정상부의 파사드다. 오바마의 연설에서 가려 뽑은 문구들이 150센티미터 높이의 글자로 새겨져 건물 꼭대기를 에워싼다. 낮에는 화강암 질감 속에 새겨진 텍스트로, 황혼이 지고 밤이 되면 그 문자 패널 사이로 따뜻한 빛이 새어나와 시카고의 스카이라인 위에 빛나는 문장을 띄운다. 이 타이포그래피 스크린은 단순한 장식이 아니라, 최상층 스카이룸(skyroom)을 향한 빛의 통로이기도 하다. 일반에 무료로 개방된 스카이룸에 오르면, 수만 개의 핀으로 엮인 텍스트 설치 작품이 돔형 천장을 뒤덮고 있고, 그 아래 통유리 너머로 시카고 전역의 파노라마가 펼쳐진다.


빛과 역사가 만나는 내부
타워 진입부는 북쪽 화강암 입면의 깊게 파인 오목한 공간에 자리하며, 반투명 유리 패널이 그 틈을 채운다. 밤이 되면 이 패널에 빛이 스며들어 타워의 입구를 부드럽게 밝힌다. 안으로 들어서면 화강암과 청동빛 금속이 어우러진 로비가 방문객을 맞이하고, 위를 향해 열린 천창이 자연광을 층층이 끌어들인다. 석재 난간을 두른 계단은 한 층 한 층 전시 갤러리로 이어지며, 오바마 재임 시절의 미국을 다룬 작품들과 흑인 예술가들의 회화, 시카고를 조감한 대형 지도 회화가 공간 곳곳에 걸려 있다. TWBTA의 파트너 폴 슐호프(Paul Schulhof)는 이 건물이 "역사를 이해하게 하고, 자신의 공동체에서 변화를 만들어낼 용기를 불어넣기 위해 설계되었다"고 설명한다.


공원과 공동체, 그 긴장 사이에서
센터가 들어선 잭슨 파크는 센트럴 파크(Central Park)를 설계한 미국 조경계의 거장 프레더릭 로 옴스테드(Frederick Law Olmsted)가 19세기 말에 완성한 공간이다. 공원의 역사적 설계를 훼손한다는 이유로 보존론자들은 처음에 강하게 반발했다. 그러나 TWBTA는 타워의 캠퍼스가 남쪽의 미드웨이 플레전스 파크(Midway Plaisance Park)와 시카고 대학교 사이를 이으며 이 지역의 공공 생태계 속으로 자연스럽게 편입된다고 보았다. 윌리엄스가 처음 높은 타워를 제안 받았을 때, 그는 오바마가 더 겸손한 형태를 원할 것이라고 생각했다고 고백한다. 하지만 결국 타워는 세워졌고, 그 기념비적 스케일은 커뮤니티 조직가에서 미합중국 대통령에 이르기까지 한 사람의 여정을 담아낼 그릇으로서 스스로를 정당화한다. 돌은 역사를 새기는 가장 오래된 매체다. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects는 그 오랜 방법으로, 오늘의 언어를 내일에게 건넨다.

Write by Claude & Jean Browwn

A monumental granite clad tower surrounded by artificial hills has been completed by US studio Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects to honour US president Barack Obama.

Ten years after Barack Obama left office, the Obama Presidential Center will open to visitors next week in Chicago's South Side.

Anchored by a 225-feet-high (69 meter) granite tower, the centre also contains numerous low level buildings that were largely covered in landscaping.

"The Center is intended to symbolize President Obama's journey as both a community organizer and president of the United States," said architect Paul Schulhof, who served as a partner for Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA) on the project and now runs his own studio.

"It is designed to empower visitors by helping them understand history while inspiring them to create change in their own communities," he continued.

"This idea is expressed architecturally through a campus of multiple buildings."

While the auxiliary buildings are nestled into the landscape designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh, the tower itself is monumental, a request from Obama that TWBTA co-founder Tod Williams said was surprising at first.

"We didn't think of a tall tower at that time," he said, referring to the early stages of the design. "We thought the president was more modest, and it should be a more modest solution."

The tower is wrapped in New Hampshire granite, with parts of its apex made into five-foot tall letters that spell out words from Obama's speeches.

This lettering creates a screen for a skyroom at the top of the structure, which is publicly accessible, as is the majority of the complex. According to Williams, the use of granite makes the building "emotional" .

"The building is emotional because if it were raining, it's dark – but when it's sunny, it's quite bright."

A few punched windows were included over the facade, which has an abstract, sculptural appearance that the architecture studio has likened to four hands meeting vertically in an embrace.

"As a monolith, it's actually four hands coming together," said Williams. "We wanted the building to be interesting and different from each side, so that it's actually iconic as a memory piece  it's intentionally more sculptural, and we're able to do that because, in fact, it didn't require that many windows."

The entrance to the tower faces a paved courtyard that also gives access to the wide complex. At its entrance, a recess in the granite is filled by panes of frosted glass that can be illuminated at night.

The centre is sited on a 19.3 acre campus on the northwest side of Jackson Park, where it connects to the horizontal Midway Plaisance Park on the south edge of the University of Chicago.

Jackson Park was designed in the late 19th century by American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame, and preservationists were initially unhappy with the decision to disrupt the design of the urban park.

from dezeen