People can’t read the lettering on the Obama Presidential Center tower

As the Barack Obama Presidential Center takes shape ahead of its June 2026 opening, some observers have pointed feedback about an element of the building’s design.

The Chicago tower features all-caps lettering that wraps around two sides of the building. But for many people, the text—an excerpt from the former president’s speech in 2015, on the 50th anniversary of the marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama—is nearly impossible to read.

Its designers say legibility isn’t...