Meet me on Obama's playground

MVVA's playground at the Obama Center, from above (Talia Sprague/Bloomberg).

“Play and fun was such a big part of what the Obamas wanted,” says Matthew Bird, a principal at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, and project manager for the 19.3-acre landscape of the Obama Presidential Center. If that statement comes as a surprise — most reviews of the Obama Presidential Center have focused on the austere, faceted 225-foot-tall “Obamalisk,” which houses the site’s museum and serves as its architectural exclamation point — maybe you need a change in perspective.

Rather than looking up (and up, and up) at the tower, look down instead. See that turquoise shimmering in the distance? That’s where you need to head, to the first-ever Presidential Playground.