MAD’s Lucas Museum Is Set to Open in Los Angeles on September 22

A major new cultural landmark is about to open in Los Angeles.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, will officially open to the public on September 22, 2026, in Exposition Park. Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects in collaboration with Stantec, the museum has been in development for years and is now preparing to welcome visitors for the first time.

The project has attracted international attention for both its unusual architecture and its ambitious approach to storytelling. Rather than focusing on one conventional category of fine art, the museum will explore narrative art across cultures, media and periods.

MAD's Sculptural Museum Takes Shape in LA

The museum's architecture is one of its defining features.

Ma Yansong conceived the building as an organic, sculptural structure that rises from the surrounding landscape. Its sweeping forms depart from the rectilinear geometry often associated with major museums, creating a building that is intended to be experienced as part of the landscape rather than as an isolated object.

According to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the five-story building encompasses approximately 300,000 square feet, including more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space spread across more than 30 galleries.

The building sits within a 13-acre landscape designed by Mia Lehrer and Studio-MLA. The landscape forms an important component of the overall project, connecting the museum's architecture with gardens, pathways and public areas.

The result is a museum that is deliberately different from the conventional institutional box. Its architecture is intended to create movement through the building while reinforcing the idea of storytelling that sits at the heart of the institution.

A Collection Built Around Visual Storytelling

The museum's collection is similarly broad. The Lucas Museum holds more than 40,000 works spanning illustration, comics, murals, children's book art, science-fiction imagery, cinema-related material and other forms of visual storytelling.

That range is central to the museum's identity. Instead of drawing a strict line between high art and popular visual culture, the institution brings different forms of image-making into the same conversation.

The galleries are also organized around themes connected to human experience rather than simply following a conventional chronology. The museum identifies subjects including love, family, community, play, work, sports, childhood and adventure.

That approach allows visitors to encounter works from different periods and media through shared themes. It also reflects the museum's broader interest in the ways images communicate ideas, emotions and stories.

The result is an institution that sits somewhere between an art museum, a cultural archive and a celebration of visual narrative.

Film Gets Its Own Place at the Museum

Cinema is another major component of the Lucas Museum's program. The collection includes movie posters and other cinematic material, while the museum will also present films as part of its public programming.

One of the dedicated spaces is the Slavko Vorkapich Theater, named after the experimental filmmaker and educator. The theater is designed around elements central to the cinematic experience, including light, motion, sound, color and editing.

The inclusion of film is particularly significant because it broadens the definition of narrative art beyond static images. Illustration, comics, posters and cinema can all function as storytelling tools, even though they use different methods and technologies.

The museum's programming is therefore expected to move between gallery exhibitions and moving-image experiences, reinforcing its central focus on how visual culture tells stories.

For Los Angeles, a city whose cultural identity is deeply connected to filmmaking, the connection between cinema and the visual arts gives the museum an especially relevant position.

The Lucas Museum Opens September 22

After years of development, the museum will open to the public on Tuesday, September 22, bringing the completed project to Exposition Park.

The museum's official information lists its address as One Lucas Plaza in Los Angeles. Its arrival will add another major cultural institution to an area already home to several prominent museums and public attractions.

For MAD Architects, the project represents a significant completed work in the United States and another example of Ma Yansong's interest in organic architecture and the relationship between buildings and landscape.

For Los Angeles, the opening introduces both a new architectural landmark and a museum built around an unusually expansive definition of narrative art.

Its combination of architecture, landscape, illustration, comics, cinema and other forms of visual storytelling gives the institution a distinctly interdisciplinary identity.

As the September 22 opening approaches, attention will increasingly turn from the long development of the project to how visitors experience the finished building and its collection.

After years of anticipation, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is finally preparing to open its doors and become part of Los Angeles's cultural landscape.