13 Mar 2023
Opening date of US$1bn George Lucas museum set for 2025
BY Tom Walker
A US$1bn museum funded by legendary director, George Lucas, will look to become the world's first to focus exclusively on storytelling through images.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art – designed by architect Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Michael Siegel of Stantec as executive architect – is set to open in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park in 2025.
Housing expansive galleries, the museum will celebrate the art of visual storytelling – from comic art, paintings and illustrations to photography, filmmaking and drawings – with collection galleries, exhibition spaces and two theatres displaying original works of art, digital technologies and daily film screenings.
Its futuristic design will transform a series of asphalt parking lots into an "organic, streamlined form" – not unlike some of the spacecraft familiar from Star Wars-creator Lucas’ most famous cinematic creations.
In addition to the 300,000sq ft main building, the attraction will feature an 11-acre
campus with extensive new green space designed by Studio-MLA.
The $1bn museum, funded primarily by Lucas and wife Mellody Hobson, broke ground in 2018 and was originally slated for a 2023 opening.
That has now been moved to 2025 due to supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, which have made the procuring of certain construction materials difficult.
Commenting on the progress made on the construction process – and the museum's content – Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the museum's director and CEO, said: “It’s humbling and energising to see how all aspects of this new public resource are taking shape.
“We believe that narrative art can connect us and help shape a more just society. As a
result, every element of this institution contributes to that idea—the site is one physical manifestation of that.
"The campus with its iconic building and arched belly that creates a canopy, coupled with the 200-plus trees taking root in the park, together create another community gathering place with much needed shade for our neighbors and others who will use the site.
"Another manifestation of that idea is the museum’s wonderfully evolving collection of narrative art that features multifaceted perspectives through the stories humans have told throughout history.
"Through these works, we hope to ignite complex and nuanced conversation that may impact the ways folks understand the world, but perhaps even what they decide to do in the world.
"We’re thrilled to share this significant progress, and I look forward to keeping the public informed as we forge ahead.”
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