SEP - OCT 2026 ISSUE
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN
THE STORY BEGINS
THE LUCAS MUSEUM OF NARRATIVE ART OPENS TO THE PUBLIC SEPTEMBER 22, 2026
Los Angeles is about to gain a new kind of cultural landmark, one where architecture, art, cinema, landscape and storytelling meet
We first encountered the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art as an architectural story. Now, the building is preparing to open its doors, and the story is becoming something visitors can finally step inside.
On September 22, 2026, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will officially open to the public in Los Angeles's Exposition Park.
Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum explores the remarkably human tradition of telling stories through images, stretching from prehistoric cave paintings and mythology to illustration, comics, cinema and contemporary art.
But before visitors encounter the collection, there is another story waiting outside.
A Building Without a Straight Line
Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec, the 300,000-square-foot museum is anything but a conventional box for art.
It’s sweeping, organic form rises from the landscape like something between architecture and sculpture. There isn't a single straight line in the building's curving exterior, and more than 1,200 uniquely shaped panels form its flowing skin.
At its centre, a dramatic 185-foot arch opens the building toward the surrounding park, while an elliptical oculus creates a view upward through the architecture and into the sky.
The intention is not simply to house art, but to create an experience around it, an environment visitors move through, discover and become part of.
And perhaps that is fitting for a museum devoted to narrative.aive.
Stories in Every Direction
Inside, more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space across 30-plus galleries will bring together more than 1,300 works spanning thousands of years of visual storytelling.
The collection moves between worlds and mediums. From mythology, heroes and the sacred, to love, family, work, fantasy and adventure.
Works by artists including Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, Diego Rivera, Jacob Lawrence, Beatrix Potter, Charles White and Banksy sit alongside illustration, comics, manga, graphic novels, photography and murals.
And yes, there is also a little cinematic history.
The inaugural cinema installation, Star Wars in Motion, draws from the Lucas Archives and explores the vehicles of the first six Star Wars films through concept designs, props and costumes, from Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder to General Grievous's Wheel Bike.
Where Architecture Meets Landscape
Perhaps one of the most compelling parts of the project is what happens beyond the museum walls.
The building sits within a new 13-acre Park and Gardens, designed by landscape architect Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA.
What was once an asphalt parking lot has been transformed into public green space with more than 300 newly planted trees, indigenous and drought-tolerant planting, a meadow, amphitheater, hanging garden and a dramatic waterfall-like fountain.
Ten monumental sculptures are woven throughout the landscape, making the park itself an extension of the museum.
It is a thoughtful reminder that architecture doesn't have to end at the front door.
More Than a Museum
The campus will also include a free Research Library, learning and studio spaces, a café, shop and the Skywalker Grill, a full-service restaurant designed by Rockwell Group, with cherry wood interiors, sculptural forms and panoramic views across Los Angeles.
The Research Library will be open to visitors free of charge, with collections spanning art history, illustration, cinema, folklore, literature, design, photography, children's literature and popular culture. Its holdings also include more than 30,000 comic books and significant collections connected to the Skywalker Ranch Library and Joseph Campbell.
In other words, the building isn't designed around a single way of looking.
It is designed around curiosity.
The Doors Open
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens to the public on September 22, 2026.
For now, we're watching from a little distance, photographs can tell us a great deal about a building, but they can never quite tell us what it feels like to stand inside one.
And we'd like to find out for ourselves.
Perhaps our next story will be written from inside the building.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Exposition Park, Los Angeles
Public opening: September 22, 2026
Images courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Photography credits as provided by the museum's press materials.