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 billion—sets it apart from other museum projects in the city, as well as building projects in general. The Broad Museum cost around $140 million while the new, and controversial, Peter Zumthor-designed LACMA building is expected to cost $650 million. The Oscars Museum, situated adjacent to LACMA, is slated to cost upwards of $388 million.
To put all this in perspective, the Los Angeles city budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 allocated around $138 million to combat homelessness, both through housing and services. That’s a good deal up from the 2015-16 budget, which was just $18 million. (L.A. has the third largest homeless population in the world, much of which is concentrated directly around the future site of the Lucas Museum.) The New Generation Fund, which provides loans for affordable rental and homeownership projects, has spent a total of $110 million—since 2008.
Of course, these aren’t technically related at all, and the Lucas Museum is privately funded, but it does give a bit of perspective about just how much $1 billion is for a single building.
7 Comments
What is the cladding material? Hope it ages well.
Snot?
A rip-off of Hadid...
http://www.thefashionspot.com/runway-news/17669-zaha-hadid-designs-shoes/
Of course there's a similarity in terms of style. Ma Yansong was an apprentice of Zaha and is clearly influenced by his mentor.
“Never meant to copy, only want to surpass.”
That design is B list at best - it is the visual equivalent of "flight of the navigator".
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.