Typographic Installation For The Obama Presidential Center
Pentagram turned Obama’s words into load-bearing architecture.
Pentagram designed a monumental typographic installation titled 'Words of Hope' for the façade of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The piece integrates 458 large-scale Gotham Bold letters cast in concrete, forming an excerpt from President Obama’s 2015 Selma speech as an architectural element that invites reflection and inspiration.
Set in Gotham
Insights- The key point is that Pentagram didn’t just add graphics—it transformed President Obama’s 2015 Selma speech into architecture, with 458 Gotham Bold letters cast in concrete as the façade itself.
- The work, titled Words of Hope, uses 103 words from Obama’s "You Are America" speech, chosen after reviewing many presidential speeches; Dr. Louise Bernard called it “the central narrative theme etched into the exterior.”
- The typography is engineered, not merely decorative: 39 unique one-foot-deep concrete panels, letters 4 ft 4 in tall, and panels weighing up to 20,000 lb required ligatures and spacing to function as structural elements.
- Pentagram matched the concrete to the tower’s New Hampshire granite, and the inscription wraps the upper south- and west-facing corners so the words read differently from the ground than from the Sky Room above.
- Public reaction was divided when the letters were revealed in February 2026; critic Lee Bey said they were “tough to read,” while photojournalist Tyler LaRiviere said they looked good only from a very specific vantage point or from the air.
