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:
7 Comments
LOL the trees on top. Very Phantom Menace prequel aesthetic
I've tried to convince Lucas that the best place for his collection would be at the Hollywood Imaginarium site. Why limit the dream?
Rude and ugly buildings justifiably rejected.
Public park space is no place for vain ego trips that will lose their meaning in 10 years.
original meaning may be lost, but it will still mean something to those who live with it. imo, this is a sick building and I hope it ends up in LA. Perfect city for it and the site is a great choice. in the thick of things.
Booooo
"Rude and ugly buildings justifiably rejected."
rude building? lol.
My guess is the major dissenter here was one of those persons the Friends of the Parks group in Chicago, convinced regarding their slander of George Lucas being an out-of-touch billionaire, who seemed to want to do little more than pave over the lakefront with concrete, and build a repository for his Star Wars toys.
Of course, it's fairly common to see that most here in the Midwest were far too obtuse to even understand what the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art could have meant for the city of Chicago, but then again, most saw it as little more than a stake in the ground for the city's mayor, and some couldn't let the land-lease deal go, leading to that ridiculous 2-year go-round, where they refused to negotiate with the Museum personnel, until the final hour. I mean, FOTP had 23 months to hammer out negotiations, and then in he final moments they go, 'here are our demands,' leaving no wiggle room or time for negotiations.
Of course, Friends of the Parks knew how to pick their battles, chasing off George from park land, and not even doing anything more than saying 'we wouldn't do that' when it was mentioned that the proposed site for Obama's library would also be built on reclaimed park land. They backed a hometown hero, and turned a philanthropist into 'a phantom menace,' and their 'generous donations' probably saw a heavy spike shortly afterward. Apparently, 'open, free, and clear' is code for, 'please give generously.'
By the looks of it, George is having a lot less of a possible hassle in California. The SF site will give him the chance to have a waterfront location, with a structure looking like the winds off the bay carved into its surface. LA has what looks like a floating city perched on the rear of Exposition Park, where it would take up 'valuable parking lot space' and return much of it to greenery (which was what was going to happen mostly with the parking lot site in Chicago, but FOTP wanted it all to be green space).
In the end, we'll have to wait and see which city will claim this unique museum, after a supposed "world class city" chased it away because it didn't conform to their midwestern views of normalcy.
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