A Spectacular Theodore Roosevelt Library Deep in the Badlands; The New York Times, July 17, 2026

 

Michael Kimmelman

Visuals by Will Warasila

, The New York Times; A Spectacular Theodore Roosevelt Library Deep in the Badlands

"You’d be hard-pressed not to like the new $450 million Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. It’s an easy charmer and a spectacular work of ecologically minded architecture in the drop-dead gorgeous North Dakota Badlands.

The firm Snohetta in New York designed it. The building is 93,000 square feet of mass-timber and rammed-earth — a huge Hobbit house hugging the precipice of a grassy butte overlooking the tiny town of Medora, N.D.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is five minutes away."

North Dakota Power Trio Opens Up About Trump, the Filibuster and Teddy Roosevelt; Politico, July 8, 2026

 JONATHAN MARTIN , Politico; North Dakota Power Trio Opens Up About Trump, the Filibuster and Teddy Roosevelt

"Roosevelt’s birthplace in Manhattan’s Flatiron and his sprawling Oyster Bay summer estate on Long Island are both run by the National Park Service. Yet because he served before the National Archives took over the presidential library system, Roosevelt was the most famous American president post-Lincoln without his own dedicated library.

Enter Burgum, Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Sen. Kevin Cramer and the other North Dakotans who saw opportunity — and dollar signs — at the foot of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park here.

Raising over $350 million, overwhelmingly from private donors, the North Dakotans met their goal of opening the library for America’s 250th birthday. And it is a gem. Sitting atop a butte, with a beige color matching the sandstone land, Teddy’s temple offers resplendent views outside and a vivid, high-tech retelling of his life therein. As the remarkably lifelike AI Roosevelt inside might say, he’d be “deeee-lighted.”"

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a miracle on the prairie; Grand Forks Herald, June 8, 2026

 Carrie McDermott , Grand Forks Herald; Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a miracle on the prairie

Conservation and sustainability are at the forefront of the innovative project’s design and construction

"North Dakota is said to have provided the “romance of his life,” and also where President Theodore Roosevelt’s concern about the depletion of the country’s resources took hold. It’s only fitting that it’s now home to a monumental project centered around conservation and sustainability — the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (TRPL)...

Designed by Snøhetta, the library’s construction used locally sourced and renewable materials, including mass timber, and mitigates the impact of wind and other climatic features so that it’s accessible in all seasons. Construction began in 2023 and now three years later, a grand opening will be held on July 4 to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday."

‘Like a Klingon prison’: inside Barack Obama’s audacious, near-windowless, $850m presidential library; The Guardian, June 2, 2026

 Oliver Wainwright , The Guardian; ‘Like a Klingon prison’: inside Barack Obama’s audacious, near-windowless, $850m presidential library

"It faces on to the sledging hill, which was originally to house a subterranean archive, until it was decided that this would be the first presidential library that wasn’t actually a library. (This may be why its official title is the Obama Presidential Center.) To the concern of some historians, Obama’s is the first entirely digital presidential archive, the centre run not by the National Archives, but by his own private foundation, raising concerns over its objectivity. Where once there would have been stacks, there are now 400 parking spaces (despite Obama’s promotion of public transit, this is still the US).

The physical records might not be on site, but the professed aim to transform the presidential library from a scholarly research centre to a bustling hub of community activity is an admirable ambition. “We didn’t build [the centre] to celebrate my ability to bring about change,” Obama declares in a promotional video. “We did it to unlock yours.” It is not just a library, but a “campus dedicated to supporting future change makers”.

The transformational change, he hopes, will happen inside the enigmatic tower where, for $30 a ticket, visitors are transported through four floors of an immersive, interactive Obama experience – a vertical Obamarama. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, it is an action-packed romp through the couple’s life story, beginning with the civil rights movements that inspired them, their political campaigns, achievements in office, life in the White House, and how you too can “bring change home” (a motto printed on the gift shop bag)...

Just like his presidency, the Obama campus was no doubt conceived with the best of intentions. And, as with his time in office, the impact of this mighty stone monument to hope looks set to be equally mixed."