Here's a look inside the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

With the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art's September 22 opening date fast approaching, museum officials are offerings a look inside the $1-billion Exposition Park landmark.

The museum, founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, is a roughly 300,000-square-foot building spanning the west side of Exposition Park along Vermont Avenue. The building interior includes 100,000 square feet of exhibition space across more than 30 different galleries, which will display art ranging from prehistoric cave paintings to modern cinema, including works by Artemisia Gentileschi, Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, Robert Colescott, Frank Frazetta, and Robert Crumb. It's inaugural exhibition will display approximately 1,300 works from Lucas's collection (out of a total collection which includes more than 40,000 pieces).

“The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was created to honor humanity’s stories and the artists who illustrate them," said Lucas in a news release. "The artists in this collection didn’t just create images, they connected our modern imaginations with our ancient emotions—with common beliefs creating community. Their work spans genres, media, and time. They deserve to be in a museum.”

MAD Architects designed the museum, with Stantec serving  as executive architect. The five-story building is clad in 1,200 glass fiber reinforced polymer panels, while its rooftop is adorned with greenery and solar panels. The building itself has an undulating form, inspired by the tree canopy of Exposition Park, with a central arch spanning 185 feet above a street-level public plaza overlooked by an elliptical oculus.

Inside, museum include the two theaters, a research library, classrooms, a shop, a café, and an approximately 10,000-square-foot gallery. The remainder of the gallery space, as well as a variety of publicly accessible outdoor spaces, occupy the upper floors. A new restaurant, Skywalker Grill, will occupy the top floor of the building.

The southern half of the museum campus is composed of new gardens designed by Studio-MLA, adding some green space to an Exposition Park that is increasingly dominated by museums and stadiums. Art also extends into these gardens, including sculptures (some of which you may notice showcase Star Wars characters such as Yoda and Grogu).

While not a "Star Wars" museum, the Lucas Museum will nonetheless prominently feature the franchise that made the famed director a household name, with an opening exhibit "Star Wars in Motion," focused on the ground vehicles used in the films. No need to mention the Naboo starfighter hanging in the museum lobby.

The Lucas Museum is one of two large construction projects now reshaping Exposition Park, joining the  $400-million Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center now underway next to the California Science Center. Exposition Park officials have also announced plans for a $352-million addition of new green space along Figueroa Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which is set to occur after the 2028 Olympics.

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• Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (Urbanize LA)