George Lucas art museum finds home in Los Angeles
by Doc on Jan.10, 2017, under General News
Star Wars creator George Lucas wants to build a a billion-dollar museum focused on art that tells stories, and he’s finally found a home for it in Los Angeles, not far from his alma mater USC.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be located near Exposition Park, near the Los Angeles Coliseum, where currently there are parking lots, and is designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, with a design that evokes a sleek, spaceship-like shape. Inside there will be 265,000–275,000 square feet of space, with nearly 100,000 square feet for galleries. Parking will be created underground for up to 1800 vehicles.
Originally Lucas had looked to Chicago, and later San Francisco’s Treasure Island, but L.A. won out.
The board of directors released the following statement:
“After extensive due diligence and deliberation, the Board of Directors of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is pleased to announce plans to build the museum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles. We have been humbled by the overwhelmingly positive support we received from both San Francisco and Los Angeles during our selection process. Settling on a location proved to be an extremely difficult decision precisely because of the desirability of both sites and cities.
The board wishes to extend a special thanks to Mayor Ed Lee and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for their tremendous efforts and engagement. While each location offers many unique and wonderful attributes, 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. 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.
Now we turn our attention to finalizing the details and building what we believe will be one of the most imaginative and inclusive art museums in the world—a global destination that all Angelenos and Californians will be proud to call their own.”