Our project accompanies six small sculptures by artist Louise Bourgeois in commemorating Jane Addams. Located in a lakefront Chicago park, the site is a place of contemplation in the middle of the city—an interpretation of a natural prairie habitat.

To honor Addams’s achievements and clarify Bourgeois’s surrealist work, we designed four didactic signs, resembling open books mounted on posts. Their form, small and enveloping, encourages individual contemplation. Their multi-level texts are simply and accessibly presented. And they are durable—made from sand-cast bronze and steel that will oxidize over time to mesh with the surrounding landscape.

While the park’s project team was large, we were given great freedom to shape the sign’s form and content. Using minimal means, they are our attempt to heighten the public’s awareness of Jane Addams and the powers of the lake, the prairie, and the city.