A seven-strong shortlist of prominent architects has been selected to compete for the honour of designing the Barack Obama Presidential Centre in Chicago. The city was selected in May and the building will be based on the South Side, although a site is yet to be confirmed. It will house a library that will hold the archives from Obama’s presidency and a gallery to commemorate his time in office.

Expected to cost between $800 million and $1 billion, the new development will be the 14th property in the presidential library system, following other prominent buildings like the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston and William J. Clinton Presidential Centre in Arkansas.

The seven finalists who are being invited to pitch for the project come from very diverse backgrounds and will undoubtedly offer unique ideas for the project. The list is made up of:

- John Ronan: The Chicago based firm behind the stunning Poetry Foundation building
- David Adjaye: An architect from London who is responsible for the National Museum of African American History and Culture; also referred to as Obama’s favourite
- Diller Scofidio & Renfro: A New York-based firm celebrated for combining architecture, visual and performing arts
- SHoP Architects: Another New York company with an unconventional approach to design, who have previously worked with Google
- Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects: The award winning New York practice behind The Barnes Foundation
- Snohetta: The Scandinavian firm who received the World Architecture Award for Bibliotheca Alexandrina
- Renzo Piano: The celebrated Italian architect who designed New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art and the Shard in London

The building will be built after Obama’s last term in office concludes. This means design submissions could be expected in 2016. It will be interesting to see how the designers approach the creation of a property that is expected to be packed with modern technologies, and exciting that a fellow architect from London has been placed on the shortlist.