Chicago’s Museum Campus, home to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium, is one of the City of Chicago’s most iconic landscapes, visited by millions of people every year including residents and tourists alike. Since the construction of these museum institutions in the early 20th Century, the campus has evolved along with the city surrounding it, and in recent years numerous civic and institutional leaders and stakeholders have taken a closer look at planning for its future.
Inspired by the City of Chicago’s 2022 Museum Campus visioning document “Where Worlds Connect: A Vision for a Reimagined Museum Campus” this project aims to transform the connective space between the three institutions into an “urban nature retreat,” offering a model for equitable public access to healthy habitats in a highly urbanized setting. By emphasizing the value of native flora, fauna, and habitat in the context of the collective Museum Campus landscape, the transformation of the Museum Campus will expand access to healthy examples of urban nature for many Chicagoans living in neighborhoods in which public green space has been historically underinvested. In an op-ed in the Chicago Sun Times, Museum Campus Presidents said,
“Enhancing the spaces outside of our walls to create greater and more equitable opportunities to connect with and celebrate nature and each other is an important step forward in the continued recovery and healing of our City as well as in ensuring a sustainable, thriving, and resilient future.”
Beginning in 2023, Living Habitats led a working group of Chicago Park District, Museum, and Mayor’s Office staff in a design and planning process along with Civic Projects Architecture that involved extensive resource inventory, community engagement, and preliminary design concepts for the conversion of lawn areas to native landscape, as well of a series of detailed design drawings for several pilot gardens that were installed in 2024. Community and stakeholder input was carefully analyzed and integrated into a series of recommendations that will inform ongoing planning and design work and coordination among the three museum institutions, the Chicago Park District, and many other stakeholders.
Location:
Chicago, Illinois
Date:
2023 – Present
Client:
Chicago Park District
Team:
LIVING HABITATS: Prime Consultant
CIVIC PROJECTS ARCHITECTURE: Subconsultant & Community Engagement
Working Group Members:
CHICAGO PARK DISTRICT STAFF & LEADERSHIP
CITY OF CHICAGO OFFICE OF THE MAYOR STAFF
FIELD MUSEUM STAFF & LEADERSHIP
SHEDD AQUARIUM STAFF & LEADERSHIP
ADLER PLANETARIUM STAFF & LEADERSHIP
