Archinect - News

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art begins exterior finishes ahead of 2025 debut

2023-11-22T18:21:00-05:00

The finish line for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art may still be out on the horizon, but the exterior of the $1-billion project from Star Wars and Indiana Jones creator George Lucas is starting to take shape.

The blog Urbanize LA has some nice construction photos of the inbound Lucas Museum of Narrative Art project that’s set to culminate in 2025 in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. Progress since our last update seems to have advanced on the roof of the 300,000-square-foot structure, where a photovoltaic array, a new green roof, and other exterior finishes are being installed.

The $1 billion design from MAD Architects was announced to have been delayed again in September of last year over supply chain problems. Once it opens, it will feature four stories and a total 300,000-square-feet of floor area with multiple exhibition spaces, a library, two theaters, and landscape program designed by Studio-MLA.

"We’re building an institution, a 200-plus-year proposition," Director Sandra Jackson-Dumont had said previously. "And we’re doing it amidst the most uncertain moments in our time.”

The billion dollar Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is finally on course towards completion

2023-03-17T09:10:00-04:00

But even in the haze of construction, a seemingly endless swirl of workers, cranes and girders, the enormous scope of the project is coming into focus as its futuristic new home rises in Exposition Park: a grand homage to one of the nation’s best-known filmmakers, and a massive repository for an eclectic collection of 100,000 paintings, photographs, book illustrations and comic book drawings.

Following a series of legal issues, criticism, construction delays, and the pandemic, the long-awaited MAD Architects-designed $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art finally seems to be on track to complete.

Since breaking ground in 2018, the project’s opening has been pushed back twice to 2023 and then 2025. Aside from external setbacks, the project’s slowed progress can be attributed to its complex and ambitious design.

Previously on Archinect: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opening date pushed back again to 2025 due to supply chain issues

As noted by The New York Times, the museum includes over 1,500 individually fabricated curved panels of fiberglass-reinforced polymer, three curved-glass elevators, an elliptical oculus, a rooftop garden, and two 299-seat theaters atop 281 seismic base isolators.

With the five-story, 300,000-square-foot museum, akin to a "low-lying spaceship," set to become a reality, the focus has shifted towards whether this site can draw the attendance tha...

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opening date pushed back again to 2025 due to supply chain issues

2022-09-22T12:13:00-04:00

The opening of MAD’s highly-anticipated Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has been delayed until the year 2025 over apparent issues in the construction supply chain, according to a report published yesterday in the LA Times.

In an interview with the paper, the museum’s director Sandra Jackson-Dumont indicated that, while construction was still moving forward “in all areas,” an inability to obtain the necessary geofoam filling elements, light fixtures, and elevator components has coupled with existing on-site safety-related delays to bump its debut again by another two years.

The museum’s opening had already been pushed back due to Covid-19 protocols after first breaking ground in 2018.

Previously on Archinect: Delays push back opening of the MAD-designed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

As ARTNews reported, this is a problem that has also affected the OMA-led expansion of Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Gallery and the $60 million overhaul of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT. Supply chain issues ...

Delays push back opening of the MAD-designed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

2021-04-05T16:55:00-04:00

Due to pandemic-related delays, the highly anticipated Lucas Museum will open its doors to the public in 2023. Construction began in March 2018, yet health and safety protocols relating to the Covid-19 pandemic have pushed back the Museum's opening. Renders of the $1-billion Museum and its steel structure designed by Ma Yansong, founder of Beijing- and LA-based MAD Architects, have already made its media rounds since the design was unveiled back in 2017.

Rendering courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Los Angeles Time's staff writer Deborah Vankin reports that while the Museum's opening has been pushed, they're working on museum interiors build-outs (two theatres and gallery space), transporting and installing exhibition assets, and the site's landscape design spearheaded by LA-based landscape architecture and urban planning firm Studio-MLA. The Museum also celebrates the addition of Judith F. Baca's "The Great Wall of Los Angeles." The acquiring of Baca's iconic mural slates h...

MAD LA: Ma Yansong and Los Angeles

2020-04-02T12:08:00-04:00

Ma, who makes his home in Pacific Palisades, is in fact a superstar in his native country, China, where he has completed skyscrapers, opera houses, museums, apartments and entire neighborhoods. But both there and here, like a quiet, mysterious character in one of Lucas’ tales (Boba Fett comes to mind), he hovers in the background, nonetheless wielding enormous power.

The Los Angeles Times today published a Sam Lubell profile of Ma Yansong, founder and creative mind of of Beijing- and LA-based MAD Architects.

Rendering courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Yansong talks about his under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, the Gardenhouse residential complex in Beverly Hills, reaction to criticism, inspiration by nature and movies, and why he actually doesn't like talking at all.

"I don’t know why artists need to talk so much," he says in the piece. "I think my work can speak for me."

Related reading: Archinect's conversation, A new nature: Interview with Ma Yansong of MAD Architecture

Steel frame of LA's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is making progress

2020-02-18T14:49:00-05:00

Four cranes are standing tall in Exposition Park, as the steel framework begins to take shape for the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Urbanize LA was able to peek over the construction fence at the future Lucas Museum of Narrative Art site in Los Angeles and catch some shots of the growing steel skeleton.

Designed by Ma Yansong's MAD Architects, the $1-billion museum will be one of several high-profile sports and entertainment venues in South LA's Exposition Park.

The project broke ground in mid-March 2018 and is gearing for completion in late 2021.

First crane goes up at Lucas Museum of Narrative Art construction site

2018-07-16T13:16:00-04:00

Four months ago, ground was broken for the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park. Construction has now gone vertical, with a tower crane soaring above Vermont Avenue. The 300,000-square-foot facility, which is being built as a legacy project by Star Wars creator George Lucas, replaces two former parking lots with a four-story, 115,000-square-foot structure that will serve as the permanent home for the filmmaker's 10,000-piece collection.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art breaks ground in Los Angeles

2018-03-14T15:37:00-04:00

After several years of planning and proposals in different cities, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, funded by the “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas, is breaking ground today on a new building here that its leaders predict will take about four years to complete. Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, the museum will occupy a corner of Exposition Park, an urban hub near the University of Southern California that already contains three museums [...].

Image courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

After protective fencing went up last month at its Exposition Park site in South Los Angeles, the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, designed by MAD Architects, finally broke ground today.

MAD's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art prepares to break ground in Los Angeles

2018-02-12T15:11:00-05:00

One year after Los Angeles unexpectedly won the right to host the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the spaceship-like project is now ready to push dirt in Exposition Park. Protective fencing now encircles the site of filmmaker George Lucas' $1-billion legacy project, which replaces two parking lots at the intersection of 39th Street and Vermont Avenue. The eventual four-story, 115-foot-tall building will feature[...] Lucas' 10,000-piece collection, a library, two theaters, classrooms, and offices.

Image courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Exposition Park in South Los Angeles has already a number of high-profile construction projects going on (new MLS soccer stadium and Coliseum makeover to host the 2028 Summer Olympics) or on the books, and the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, designed by Ma Yansong's MAD Architects, appears to be breaking ground soon as well.

New renderings released of the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

2017-07-03T12:10:00-04:00

It’s full speed ahead for the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the $1B museum sited in Exposition Park in Los Angeles and designed by Ma Yansong. Rising four stories, the 115-ft. tall building will house some 300,00 square feet of floor area containing exhibition space, a library, two theaters, classrooms, offices and a library. New renderings have been released. Take a gander below.

Image credit the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, via NBC

The George Lucas Museum has (finally) been given the green-light

2017-06-27T19:13:00-04:00

If the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is any indicator, the Bilbao effect is fast receding into distant memory. For a while, no city seemed to want it. The $1B project flirted with Chicago and San Francisco before finally finding a home in Los Angeles, which, in retrospect, seems perfectly fitting for a museum dedicated to “narrative art.” Now, at long last, the Los Angeles City Council has given final approval of the project and construction will proceed.

George Lucas and his wife Melody Hobson spoke in-person to the council, which gave unanimous support to the project. Groundbreaking is set for early next year, with a 36-month construction timeline and an opening in 2021. Alongside it’s (incredibly) steep price tag, the museum comes with a $400M endowment.

The museum is designed by Ma Yansong and will take up seven acres in Exposition Park.

New designs revealed for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

2017-05-05T12:54:00-04:00

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has had a tough time getting going. After shuffling around potential sites in Chicago, and dealing with some litigation, the art collection and archives of superstar director George Lucas finally found a future home in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. Now, new designs for the museum by Chinese architect Ma Yansong of MAD Architects have been revealed.

The new designs retain the sinewy look of the old ones, but present a more compact structure. The museum will comprise a four story, 115-foot tall building with 300,000 square feet of floor space. Split into two wings, it will include two theaters as well as archives, offices, classrooms, and a library. The wings will meet on the fourth floor, creating a large exhibition space. The fifth level will also feature exhibition space as well as a restaurant. A massive subterranean garage capable of housing 2,400 vehicles will be capped with 11 acres of parkland.

The staggering cost of the project—an estimated $1 ...

LA is selected for George Lucas's Museum of Narrative Art

2017-01-10T23:19:00-05:00

After years of planning, negotiations and speculation, filmmaker George Lucas has chosen Los Angeles to be the home for his museum honoring visual storytelling. It will display his personal collection of fine and popular art, including Norman Rockwell paintings, Mad Magazine covers, photography, children's art, as well as Hollywood props and visual effects from his famous movie franchise Star Wars.

"South Los Angeles's Promise Zone best positions the museum to have the greatest impact on the broader community, fulfilling our goal of inspiring, engaging and educating a broad and diverse visitorship," reads a statement from the board of directors for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. "Exposition Park is a magnet for the region and accessible from all parts of the city. As a museum uniquely focused on narrative art, we look forward to becoming part of a dynamic museum community, surrounded by more than 100 elementary and high schools, one of the country's leading universities as well as three other world-class museums."

Is George Lucas pitting L.A. against S.F. for his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art?

2017-01-10T17:11:00-05:00

But so far, Lucas hasn’t found a permanent home for his museum. The monumental project has brought him almost as much grief as Jar Jar Binks, the prequel creature from the planet Naboo with an oddly Jamaican accent that some found racially offensive.

George Lucas' multi-year, oft-imperiled quest to find a site for his museum is chronicled in this Bloomberg article, which highlights the difficulties of using only the force of one's personality (and the promise of a "gift" of a museum to a city) to cut through local politics and bureaucracy. According to this article, signs indicate that the filmmaker may be attempting to get Los Angeles and San Francisco to compete against one another for the institution in hopes of speeding up the process (and securing the best site).

Other Lucas Museum of Narrative Art news:

Check out MAD's new LA and SF designs for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

2016-10-27T13:48:00-04:00

After a long and obstructive political process (and some sad looking pics of Rahm Emanuel) George Lucas' Museum of Narrative Art decided to abandon its attempt to build in Chicago and now is looking toward the Golden State: specifically, Treasure Island in San Francisco and Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Ma Yansong of MAD architects has subsequently whipped up some new proposed designs for each locale. First up, Exposition Park:

And Treasure Island:

For more on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art:

'Urban convenience:' when museums move and their effect on the city

2016-10-10T18:25:00-04:00

For all of the dubious attention attracted by the “Bilbao Effect” theory [...] a more prosaic, and arguably more important aspect of museum location has received little attention: not which city a museum is built in, but where in that city. Locations that would once have seemed inevitable, such as Chicago parkland, are hugely contentious in the 2000s, while locations previously unthinkable in that year – an abandoned lumbermill in Bilbao [...] – are now commonplace.

OMA's glass mushroom: the Lucas Museum that could have been

2016-07-12T13:07:00-04:00

Designed by architect Shohei Shigematsu of Rem Koolhaas' OMA practice, the striking glass building was a losing entrant in George Lucas' 2014 competition to design his museum. Now that legal wrangling over the use of the lakefront site between Soldier Field and McCormick Place has prompted Lucas to definitively rule out Chicago as the home of his project, OMA has released the images for Chicagoans to further ponder what might have been.

The much-bedraggled path to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, with MAD Architects designing its tent-like expanse, has yet to find its home—facing lawsuits and design criticisms in Chicago, it could move to Waukegan, Illinois, or Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. At least we get to see some juicy rejects in the meantime, like this one from OMA, which Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin concedes "almost makes Jabba the Hutt's palace look OK."

Justifying their top-heavy design, OMA said in a press release that it would create canopied park space, and let the museum "contain eight times the public space it occupies". Perhaps in a galaxy far, far away.

Update (7/13): Brooklyn Digital Foundry put together this video for OMA, presenting their design for the Lucas Museum.

Embattled Lucas Museum may move to S.F.'s Treasure Island

2016-05-19T13:58:00-04:00

A spokeswoman for San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin confirmed that the city and museum representatives are in early discussions about a site on Treasure Island, a destination in San Francisco Bay famous for a naval base. Los Angeles is also trying to stay in the game, with Mayor Eric Garcetti saying that Lucas' project would find a good home in the heart of the movie industry.

The lawsuit averse Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is openly courting other cities after Chicago's Friends of the Park filed legal action to prevent the project from building on its chosen Chicago lakefront site, may wind up in San Francisco, although Los Angeles (and Waukegan, IL) have offered themselves up as well. Rahm Emanuel, who was a vocal champion of the Museum's proposed locale, recently suggested a compromise in the form of moving the museum to the Lake Michigan adjacent McCormick Place East, but no one is compromising as of yet.

The prequels to this particular saga:

Waukegan, IL: future home of the Lucas Museum?

2016-05-05T16:02:00-04:00

With the future of a Lucas Museum on Chicago's lakefront in doubt, the city of Waukegan is asking the organizers to look a little to the north. Waukegan Mayor Wayne Motley reached out to Mellody Hobson, a Chicago financial executive and the wife of "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, about locating the proposed museum featuring digital, traditional and narrative art on Waukegan's lakefront, a city spokesman said on Wednesday.

After a shake-up Tuesday wherein Chicago-based Friends of the Parks (which was taking a 30-day break from suing to prevent the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art from being built) announced that it wasn't going to budge on its anti-LMNA position, George Lucas announced that he was seriously considering other locations. According to the Chicago Tribune Lucas' wife, Mellody Hobson, noted that "this process has been co-opted and hijacked by a small special interest group." On Thursday, The Chicago Tribune reported that Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked his Law Department Wednesday afternoon to ask a federal appeals court to reject the Friends of the Parks case before it is tried. Could the force be with the industrial shoreline of Waukegan, Illinois, population 90K?

You can conquer the box-office, but stakeholder groups are a whole different echelon:

Lawsuit against Lucas Museum holds off (for now)

2016-05-03T13:00:00-04:00

[Friends of the Park] said in a news release that the stay "gives all parties the opportunity to have a more direct and productive dialogue to reach a potential solution about a museum site." [...] The move marks the latest twist in a controversy that began in 2014 when Lucas shifted the museum's location to Chicago... It gives momentum, if only momentarily, to a compromise plan for the museum that Emanuel floated last month.

Get caught up on prior news on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, designed by MAD Architects:

Even after improved plan, Lucas Museum still mired in legal and financial problems

2016-04-20T13:00:00-04:00

this plan creates a new complication all its own: a financing scheme that involves borrowing nearly $1.2 billion and extending five taxes beyond their expiration dates: Tax dollars collected in 2066 still would be paying off a deal cut a half-century earlier, in 2016. [...] By law both proposed museum sites are submerged lake bottom and have special protections. [...] If you're a citizen, you own what's called a fractional beneficial interest in this public trust land. You can use it.

Get caught up on the rocky development history of Chicago's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art:

The Lucas Museum may have found a new location – but is it "a trap"?

2016-04-15T12:29:00-04:00

Does Mayor Rahm Emanuel want to tear down the McCormick Place East building to make way for the controversial Lucas Museum of Narrative Art? If reports to that effect are true, the move, which would demolish most of the massive structure, could be an olive branch to parks advocates dedicated to keeping the shoreline clear of buildings.

"Yet the move could also be a trap. By signing off on a plan to allow the Lucas Museum to be built east of Lake Shore Drive, parks advocates would be trampling on the very principle they have used in federal court to block the museum backed by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas."

For more on the controversial plans for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, check out some past Archinect coverage:

via GIPHY

Chicago site of George Lucas' museum in legal battle

2016-02-17T13:57:00-05:00

In a filing Tuesday, the city asked the judge in the case to lift an order barring Lucas from starting construction before the legal fight is resolved. The city argues the order "puts the entire project at risk" because the museum "may choose to leave Chicago and relocate to another city." A status hearing is set for Wednesday.

Will Los Angeles be the ultimate destination for George Lucas' museum? It's a possibility if the Chicago legal battles drag on, which makes one wonder: what would be the easiest, hassle-free site? Downtown? The Westside?

In the meantime, here's a recap of the history of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art:

Chicago City Council approves construction of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

2015-10-29T18:00:00-04:00

The Chicago City Council voted on Wednesday to approve the zoning proposal for the 300,000-square-foot Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which will be located near Soldier Field.

According to a press release issued by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art President Don Bacigalupi said that “[The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art] will also deliver nearly 200,000 square feet of new green space and accessible parkland along the lakefront for all to enjoy. We are excited to move forward with the Museum's construction.”

For more on the MAD Architects-designed Lucas museum, do check out:

• Chicagoans still split over lakefront Lucas Museum plans

• Uncompromising design part of newly disclosed reasons for why Lucas museum didn't go to SF

• Lawsuit against the Lucas Museum to Proceed

Chicagoans still split over lakefront Lucas Museum plans

2015-10-02T18:19:00-04:00

Opinions about the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art ranged from excitement to distaste as residents got their first chance to speak about the proposed addition to the lakefront at two public hearings this week. [...] The Chicago Park District sponsored the hearings Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss museum plans for architecture, landscaping and traffic.

Previously on Archinect:

Uncompromising design part of newly disclosed reasons for why Lucas museum didn't go to SF

2015-05-05T15:34:00-04:00

When the Presidio Trust announced last year that it was rejecting George Lucas’ bid to build a museum at Crissy Field, its leaders didn’t reveal that three days earlier they had been prepared to grant the “Star Wars” creator the land he sought. [...] if he agreed to change the look of his desired museum, a mock-classical temple that at one point had four ceremonial domes. [...] Five months later, Lucas was bound for Chicago.

Lawsuit against the Lucas Museum to Proceed

2015-03-16T15:54:00-04:00

A lawsuit challenging plans for the Lucas museum along Chicago's lakefront can proceed, a federal judge ruled Thursday, leaving legal hurdles in place if the selected site remains between Soldier Field and McCormick Place. Friends of the Parks filed a lawsuit in November against the Chicago Park District and the city of Chicago over the museum plans, contending the proposed site near Lake Michigan violates the public trust.

The lawsuit asserts that proposed site for the Lucas Museum requires approval by the Illinois General Assembly, something contested by the Park District and the city who argue the museum will be provide public benefits. It was filed last year by the Friends of the Parks, who assert that since the site is made up of land that was reclaimed from a protected waterway, it should be preserved as an open space. The land was part of Lake Michigan until it was formed in the 1920s.

The noted filmmaker George Lucas selected Chicago for the location of his proposed museum last year. The director plans to fully-fund the project, which would contain paintings, photographs, illustration and films related to movie-making. The city offered 17 acres of lakefront property, assumedly in the hopes that, once built, the museum would serve as a tourist attraction. While the property is currently serving as a parking lot, according to the lawsuit, the planned development would restrict public access to the...

Weekly News Round-Up for January 19, 2015

2015-01-26T20:46:00-05:00

Sunday, January 25:

Aaron Betsky To Lead Taliesin West: Effective immediately, Betsky will "set the intellectual tone or the School " as it undergoes a rough and potentially definitive funding period.

Friday, January 23:

Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House to reopen once again in February: So culminates a six-year and nearly $4.4M restoration project, to return the house to its early 20th century state.

Thursday, January 22:

Megataaaall Shanghai Tower enters final construction phase: It's 632 meters tall, symbolizes China's Future, and is flanked by two other skyscrapers repping China's Past and Present.

David Chipperfield pledges to carefully "optimize" Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie: Chipperfield also renovated Berlin's Neues Museum, and plans to "keep as much Mies as possible".

Wednesday, January 21:

'Can of Ham' skyscraper coming to London after all: Delayed since 2008 after the financial crisis hit, the hamscraper will sit in close company to London's Gherkin.

Monday, January...

George Lucas open to moving his museum to Los Angeles if Chicago isn't working out

2015-01-19T13:42:00-05:00

George Lucas said Friday that complications in his plan to build his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on the Chicago lakefront may put Los Angeles back in the running. Last summer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made a vigorous push to get the "Star Wars" creator to choose L.A., but the city lost out to Chicago. "We still have to get through some lawsuits and things in Chicago [...] But it's still a possibility that Chicago will be unable to do it," Lucas said.

Previously

Al Jazeera looks at the opposition and support for Chicago's George Lucas museum

2014-12-17T17:02:00-05:00

Ash-har Quraishi reports on why some Chicagoans oppose a plan for a museum for the ‘Star Wars’ creator’s artwork