Join the CAC and Openlands to explore how Big Marsh Park transformed former industrial land into a thriving habitat and recreational destination.
Tour & Talk: Big Marsh Park
The Ford Calumet Environmental Center (FCEC) is a 9,300-square-foot sustainability and educational hub located in Big Marsh Park on Chicago's Southeast Side. Photo by Tom Harris.
Since the late 1800s, the area surrounding Lake Calumet served as a dumping ground for waste and slag from heavy industries. Through extensive planning and investment from the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District and the community, 45 acres of slag fields were transformed into eco-recreational spaces with paved and off-road biking trails and adventure courses. The remaining acres have been restored as wildlife habitat, stewarded by volunteer groups led by the Chicago Park District and The Nature Conservancy, with opportunities for hiking and birding.
Opened in 2016, the 280-acre Big Marsh Park now serves as a model for how former industrial land can be transformed into wildlife habitat and recreational space.
Attendees will gather at the Ford Calumet Environmental Center for a presentation by RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture and Valerio Dewalt Train (VDT) on the park's landscape design and educational hub. Following the presentation, guests will break into walking tours led by the Chicago Park District, Openlands and The Nature Conservancy before returning to the center for a catered lunch.
Please note: Attendees are responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from the park. A “Know Before You Go” email with directions and travel information will be sent to all registrants before the event.
This program is held in conjunction with the exhibition Chicago’s Living Habitat, on view at the CAC through January 2027. Chicago’s Living Habitat is co-curated and presented by Openlands.
Keynote speaker
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Meet the speakers
As a founding principal of Valerio Dewalt Train, Joe’s architectural expertise positions him as a leader and innovator in the design world. He is inspired by data driven design. At the same time, he is fascinated by designs open to multiple interpretations – in other words, ambiguous. Early in his career he was a committed teacher and researcher, becoming an Associate Professor of Architecture. His work has received six national AIA Awards, 33 Chapter Awards, and 62 major articles in professional journals. Most recently, the Ford Calumet Environmental Center (FCEC) won first place in the “Driehaus Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design,” and an AIA Chicago Chapter Award. FCEC was the Park Districts first mass timber building.
Matt Gamache is a Principal and design leader at Valerio Dewalt Train who brings inquisitive, iterative, and gutsy thinking to every challenge. He builds strategic partnerships that broaden dialogue, create mentorship opportunities, and elevate design through collaboration rather than competition. His work includes projects for Google, VMware, Adobe, and Juniper Networks, whose workplace received honors from AIA Chicago and Interiors Magazine. Equally committed to serving disinvested communities, Matt has led mission-driven work across historically underserved Chicago neighborhoods, including affordable housing in Austin and West Garfield Park, such as Westgate and Austin United, as well as the Ford Calumet Environmental Center on the far South Side. Across community-rooted housing, sustainable cultural spaces, and urban workplaces, Matt’s generous listening and expansive vision bring inclusion, design excellence, and lasting civic value to the city he loves.
Joel Baldin is Director of Urban Design with RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture (formerly Hitchcock Design Group). He is an award-winning landscape architect with over 30 years of experience in planning, design, and project management. Joel has helped shape the landscapes of Chicago and Northwest Indiana through both professional work and community involvement. Known for solving design challenges and building strong client relationships, Joel’s experience with the Chicago Park District includes improvements on over 100 parks throughout the system. Joel’s involvement with Big Marsh started with the development of the 2014 Master Plan, many of the capital improvements since than including the initial bike park, and the recently updated 2024 Master Plan.
The Big Marsh Bike Park is a new type of eco-recreation to Chicago and is the first park of its kind in the Midwest. The park features a variety of cycle-based features from BMX jump lines, single-track trails, and a world-class pump track.
