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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 ...

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 ...

'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.

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:

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...

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

Frank Gehry defends MAD's design for Lucas Museum

2014-11-26T13:25:00-05:00

The work presented for the Lucas Museum has precedent. It's not just out of the blue; it is something that has been in the air for many years. [...] I would hope that the people of Chicago take the proper time to review the Lucas Museum. I also hope that they will give the client and the architects sufficient time to develop the project — to work with the city and the public to evolve the design. Please do not dismiss it because it doesn't look like something you've never seen before.

Previously: Lucas museum faces lawsuit from Friends of the Parks; How the Lucas Museum Design Will Change Chicago's Lakefront - Rendering Reveals; and George Lucas announces MAD and Studio Gang as architects for his Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago

Look back, move forward: Weekly News Round-Up for November 3, 2014

2014-11-10T18:55:00-05:00

Friday, November 7:

8,000 Glowing Balloons Recreate the Berlin Wall: A 10 mile chain of balloons will line the path where the Wall previously stood, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its demolition.
First Ever Chicago Architecture Biennial Taking Shape for 2015: The Biennial's theme of "The State of the Art of Architecture" (named after Stanley Tigerman's 1977 conference), is starting to take shape, and will include a photo exhibition on Chicago from Iwan Baan.

Thursday, November 6:

Massive Hollywood project sits atop quake fault: The California Geological Survey confirmed that the Millenium Hollywood skyscraper sits on top of an active fault, despite the fact that the developer's consultants find no evidence of an active fault in their analysis of the data. LA's Department of Building and Safety will ultimately determine whether the Millenium can be built.
Centre Pompidou To Open Design and Architecture Gallery: Upon the opening of its new photography gallery, the renowned Parisian...