A New Landmark in Exposition Park
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is set to open its doors in Los Angeles on September 22, 2026. This institution occupies a five-story, 27,870-square-meter footprint within Exposition Park. George Lucas and Mellody Hobson founded the project to house a collection dedicated to the power of stories. It features painting, illustration, comics, and cinematic art. The building itself is the work of architect Ma Yansong of MAD, in collaboration with Stantec.
Traditional museums often sit as static objects on a raised plinth. This building rejects that approach. The design lifts the main volume into the air. This creates a shaded, public plaza that connects the surrounding parkland beneath the structure. It spans 56 meters at its center to form a vast, open gathering space. A massive elliptical oculus rises four stories above this area. It serves as a visual link between the public plaza and the sky.
Engineering the Flow of Narrative
Construction of the building relies on more than 1,200 uniquely shaped, curved fiberglass-reinforced polymer panels. These panels provide the structure with its smooth, flowing geometry while keeping the overall weight manageable. The exterior skin responds to the surrounding tree canopy. The lack of straight lines makes the museum appear to hover between the landscape and the clouds. It moves away from the rigid forms common in institutional design.
Inside, the building emphasizes verticality and light. Glass elevators move visitors between the various levels. The interior includes two theaters, a horseshoe-shaped research library, and ten classrooms. A café and retail space sit on the lower floors. Movement is designed as a deliberate sequence. Visitors transition from the open park into the sheltered plaza, then into the luminous interior galleries. Circulation is part of the story.
Bridging Fine Art and Popular Culture
The collection holds more than 40,000 works. These range from established fine art masters to popular illustration and cinematic artifacts. The inaugural exhibitions feature 1,300 works spread across 30 galleries. Curators have organized these pieces by theme rather than time period. You will find exhibits on adventure, love, childhood, and work. This strategy places artists like Frida Kahlo alongside Norman Rockwell and cinematic props from Star Wars.
This curatorial choice disrupts common museum hierarchies. It asserts that illustration and comics belong in the same conversation as fine art. The museum avoids isolating these mediums from popular culture. It treats storytelling as a shared human experience. This is the museum's core proposition. Categories are useful tools, but they often fail to capture how images actually communicate with people.
The Landscape as a Narrative Component
Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA designed the surrounding 52,600-square-meter landscape. It is not just a frame for the building. It is a functional partner. The site replaces a former asphalt parking lot with more than 300 new trees. It includes a meadow, an amphitheater, and a waterfall. The topography draws inspiration from the foothills and canyons of California. It integrates the architecture into the existing fabric of the park.
Ten large-scale sculptures are placed throughout the grounds. These are free to access for the public. They include works by Fernando Botero and Prune Nourry alongside figures like Yoda and Princess Leia. The project as a whole seeks to redefine the role of a civic institution. By lifting the building, the architects have surrendered the ground plane to the public. It marks a shift in how museums occupy space in urban environments. The Lucas Museum suggests that if art is meant for everyone, the building should not act like a fortress.