A New Landmark in Exposition Park
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will open its doors to the public on September 22, 2026. This date marks the conclusion of a project that began with its approval in 2017. Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, the building stands as a sculptural, curved form within Los Angeles's Exposition Park. The structure covers 300,000 square feet and sits on an 11-acre site that was previously an asphalt parking lot.
Ground was broken for the project in 2018. The institution serves as a home for a collection of 40,000 works assembled by filmmaker George Lucas and his partner, Mellody Hobson, over five decades. The museum focuses on visual storytelling across various media, including photography, illustration, film, and digital works. By housing these pieces, the museum aims to explore how visual narratives shape human beliefs and community values.
Design and Construction Details
Ma Yansong conceived the museum as an organic, floating form. The building is lifted off the ground, creating a public plaza beneath its curved silhouette. Central arched steel beams spanning 185 feet support this structure, ensuring the street-level scale remains human. Natural light enters the lobbies through a central elliptical oculus that rises four stories above the plaza level.
Construction involved a team of over 150 architects and engineers who used a cloud-based modeling system to coordinate the build. The exterior cladding consists of more than 1,271 uniquely shaped panels made of fiberglass-reinforced polymer. Workers produced these panels through a mix of digital fabrication and manual finishing to ensure a smooth, consistent surface. Other materials used throughout the site include glass-fiber reinforced concrete, steel, and plaster.
Campus Features and Inaugural Exhibitions
The broader 13-acre campus includes gardens and parks designed by Studio-MLA. These spaces replace industrial asphalt with 300 new trees, meadows, and flowering plants. Visitors can explore an amphitheater, a waterfall fountain, and ten outdoor sculptures located along the walkways. A research library with floor-to-ceiling windows offers additional space for study and reflection.
Inaugural exhibitions feature roughly 1,300 works from the permanent collection. The first floor displays the history of narrative art, featuring collaborations with global institutions such as the Vatican Museums and the Louvre. Subsequent floors explore themes of love, family, and adventure. A dedicated gallery will present the "Star Wars in Motion" installation, drawing directly from the George Lucas Archives.
Cinema and Cultural Context
Two theaters, the Robert Flaherty Theater and the Slavko Vorkapich Theater, provide specialized spaces for the museum’s film program. These theaters operate as drop-in experiences rather than traditional auditoriums with set showtimes. Programming in the Flaherty Theater focuses on the intersection of reality and documentary filmmaking. The Vorkapich Theater examines the mechanics of cinema, such as editing and light, honoring the legacy of the experimental filmmaker who chaired the film department at the University of Southern California.
The Lucas Museum enters a crowded field of new cultural venues. Similar projects reaching completion this year include the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Science Common in Boston and the Powerhouse Parramatta in Sydney. The opening of these sites reflects a wider trend of architectural investment in public education and communal art spaces. The museum's presence in Los Angeles adds a significant anchor to the city's existing arts infrastructure.