The Chicago Flyhouse, Inc.

Obama Presidential Center

Portfolio > Obama Presidential Center

One For the History Books

After years of planning and construction, the Obama Presidential Center opened to the public on Friday, June 19, 2026. Flyhouse is incredibly honored to have played a role in this historic project—a landmark for the U.S., the city of Chicago, and especially Chicago’s South Side and Jackson Park neighborhood.

"If it was easy, someone else would have done it.”

— Flyhouse

One of the more iconic spaces at the Center is the Nelson Mandela Sky Room. The room’s windows offer panoramic views of Chicago, seen through President Obama’s own words—the exterior of the building features part of his speech commemorating of the 50th anniversary of the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery

To our crew, the most unique part of this space is how the project scope evolved over time. After rethinking how this particular space would be used, the design team pivoted, shifting funding from other spaces to accelerate the Sky Room’s rigging features.

We installed eight hoists that can be used in multiple configurations—independently or in synchronized groups of any combination—for lights or screens for special events. This extensive flexibility makes our Ease® Control Console the ideal choice.

The art-forward Sky Room required pinpoint-perfect placement of our rigging points. We installed these points early in the construction phase so the ceiling was built around our points. The signature feature of this rigging system is its discrete design which allows it to be entirely invisible when not in use. While the scope of our work was officially mechanical/structural, we collaborate closely with the contractors and architects throughout the project to balance function with aesthetics.

Now you see it, now you don't:

NELSON MANDELA SKY ROOM BY THE NUMBERS:

  • 8 hoists
  • 1,750 lbs capacity of each hoist 
  • 1 Ease® console
  • 40 feet of travel, height from ceiling to floor
  • 182 weeks of coordination and work
  • 1536 hours required for installation

The Elie Wiesel Auditorium is another room designed with an emphasis on flexibility. The Flyhouse crews were asked to pivot during the submittal process and adjust the planned rigging system to create an entirely different multi-functional, multi-use auditorium and work with the contractors and architects to support the new rigging layout to support the audio-visual equipment needs, both for permanently installed lighting, as well as have the infrastructure for temporary systems.

The result, Flyhouse installed three different systems in the auditorium. The first includes dead-hung ladder battens, semi-hidden in ceiling, for room and stage lighting. The next is a permanent chain hoist control system throughout the room. This allows the Center to add chain hoists and truss or whatever other audio-visual equipment they may want to incorporate into the venue as part of their future-use.

Finally, the auditorium features adjustable, unique seating system using the Uplift™Adjustable Platform System. Seating and stage capacity can be adjusted for each event’s requirements via mechanized platforms that can be raised and lowered. Flyhouse worked with Sightline throughout the project to bring about a successful installation of a remarkably shaped platform system.

 

These systems required significant coordination on lighting, seating, stage configurations, auxiliary panels for each configuration, and cantilever design. Our crews planned for all variables and coordinated onsite with the various trades involved in design and construction.

The Steven Spielberg Studio is a multi-functional, multi-media space that includes a recording studio, control center, and green room—allowing visitors, students ,and professionals access to a range of high-tech production equipment. Flyhouse installed a standard pipe grid and variable curtains for the flexible production space: stacks of standard black, as well as green for green screen. These curtains can be used to cover the window and add backgrounds for a wide-range of production needs. Built underneath a park, the studio’s location limited placement of certain aspects of the rigging and architecture and added to the complexity of otherwise straight-forward rigging work.

“OUR MISSION IS TO INSPIRE, EMPOWER, AND CONNECT PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEIR WORLD.”

– Obama Presidential Center

The names of all individuals who worked on the Obama Presidential Center are permanently listed on a wall. We’re proud of all our crew who contributed to this historic landmark and whose names will live here long after our project wrapped.

Beyond the spaces where Flyhouse left its mark, the campus includes a museum, library, gardens, a playground, and an NBA-sized basketball court. The Obama Presidential Center is open to the public seven days a week. For more information, visit Obama.org.