Where worlds connect

The study addresses an approximately 250-acre area that is home to some of Chicago’s world-class institutions and destinations—including Northerly Island, the Museum Campus, Soldier Field, and the south lakefront at McCormick Place Lakeside Center. It creates a coherent urban vision, identifies accessible green spaces, and delineates equitable connections to the neighborhoods it borders.

Working pro-bono alongside the Museum Campus Working Group, SOM has designed a vision to enable the City of Chicago to develop plans and investments that, together, will rewild the landscape to restore native ecosystems, allow for the adaptive reuse of structures for year-round programming, and create new pedestrian and bike routes. Wider connections to Grant Park, the South Loop, and Bronzeville were also considered, encompassing an approximately two-square-mile area.

A place for everyone

The proposal includes reconfiguring under-utilized lawns and parking lots into vibrant landscapes and flexible community event spaces to enable a variety of programs and experiences that will activate the campus year-round, and provide accessible amenities to all the surrounding neighborhoods.

Rewilding the lakefront

Paired with innovative approaches to environmental preservation, the Museum Campus has the potential to position Chicago as a leader in urban climate resilience. Strategies for rewilding the site include converting parking lots into green, permeable surfaces; diversifying landscaping of static lawns to add shade, biodiversity, and topography; reusing the historic Meigs Field Terminal building as a new Climate Lab for the Great Lakes; and completing unrealized plans to develop Northerly Island into an accessible nature sanctuary with reef barriers to protect from erosion.

A better-connected city

World-class infrastructure will create new connections from the campus to neighborhoods on the South and West Side, making it a more accessible destination for Chicagoland and the region. Pedestrian access over the railroad tracks and through McCormick Center increase connectivity to the west. Expanded use of the McCormick Place Busway, water taxis, and Metra increase access to the north and south. New pedestrian bridges make Northerly Island more accessible from the west.

Learn more and view the full report from the Museum Campus Working Group here.