George Lucas unveils designs for LA-based Museum of Narrative Art

PanARMENIAN.Net - George Lucas unveiled two different designs for his proposed Museum of Narrative Art this week — one that envisions erecting the museum at Los Angeles’ Exposition Park and a similar proposal for the same museum to be built on San Francisco’s Treasure Island, The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

In June, Lucas announced he was scuttling plans to build the museum in Chicago after the project encountered fierce resistance from a local preservation group known as Friends of the Parks. Lucas announced then that California would be the desired home of the museum and he is pursuing an unconventional dual-track proposal process for both cities.

The proposed site in LA runs along a narrow strip of land parallel to Vermont Avenue. The land is currently occupied by a pair of parking lots and within walking distance of Metro’s Expo Line and Memorial Coliseum. Both futuristic designs were hatched from the mind of the 40-year-old Chinese architect Ma Yansong.

Both the LA and the San Francisco plan would create anywhere between 265,000 and 275,000 square feet of interior space, 100,000 square feet of which would be dedicated to gallery space. To accommodate parking, the new Exposition Park museum would create an underground parking garage that could hold approximately 1,800 vehicles. The plan would add about seven acres of green space.

Both buildings share a futuristic look, with sleek lines and a fluidity that evokes some of the extra-terrestrial ships and structures featured in the first Star Wars trilogy. The total cost of the project is unknown, but according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Lucas has already secured the support of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.

According to the report, Lucas will choose the location for the museum early next year.