The Ford Calumet Environmental Center in Context
On Saturday July 18th the Chicago Architecture Center organized “Tour and Talk: Big Marsh Park.” The event was co-sponsored by Openlands, the Nature Conservancy and the Chicago Park District. Joel Baldin, landscape architect from RVi Planning, has been involved at the park since its inception in 2016. He spoke about the landscape design while Joe Valerio and Matt Gamache, of Valerio Dewalt Train, presented about the architectural design of the Ford Calumet Environmental Center at Big Marsh that opened in 2021.
Ford Calumet Environmental Center in the midst of Big Marsh Park
From the first architectural meeting, the Park District made it clear that there were three constituencies that Big Marsh served.
First there were the “birders,” mainly people with roots in the Audubon Society.
Second, the “bikers” who would use both the casual family friendly trails, and the highly competitive tracks that tested the skills of expert riders.
And third, community members from the surrounding, historically underserved, neighborhoods including South Deering, East Side, Hegewisch, Riverdale and Pullman.
Leading from the Park District were Heather Gleason, Director of Planning and Development, Steven Bell, Center Director, and a representative from the Ford Motor Company.
Joe Valerio and Joel Baldin presenting at the Chicago Architecture Center and Openlands event.
For architects who have returned occasionally over the last five years for formal presentations and personal visits, this event was an opportunity to make another post-occupancy evaluation. Matt and Joe found that:
Big Marsh Park has exploded in popularity as measured by the participation of all three constituencies.
Birders still flock to the park, especially during migration seasons.
The bike trails attract both casual and expert riders.
Community members take advantage of the facilities. During this visit an extended family of at least 20 people brought a dozen containers of food to one of the picnic shelters at the park’s entrance near FCEC.
The tour heads outside to check out the park.
The exhibit developed by VDT’s experiential graphics studio remains as fresh and relevant as when the center opened. It details the following stories:
The restoration of the Lake Calumet flora and fauna is the park’s ultimate goal.
The story of how 20th Century technology was paid for, in part, by destructive impacts on the environment that can still be seen.
For the neighborhoods that surround Big Marsh, the 20th Century was a time for migration, success for organized labor, but these neighborhoods remained underserved.
A portion of the exhibit focused on local flora and fauna.
The success of Big Marsh is reflected in its place as the management and service center for a number of CPD parks extending to the south. There is some thought that these could be connected to create a much larger contiguous context for Big Marsh.
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Joe Valerio