One Story, Two Forms: How the Lucas Museum's Building Embodies Its Curatorial Mission

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art's architecture by Ma Yansong is designed to embody its broad curatorial mission, treating the building as the first object in its collection. This unified vision aims to make visitors part of the narrative journey from the moment they arrive.

Monique Devereaux

October 19, 2026 · 5 min read

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opened to the public on September 22, 2026, in Los Angeles's Exposition Park, is built on a single idea expressed twice: that visual storytelling is a universal human activity, and that the museum celebrating it should itself feel like a story being told. The museum's own materials describe its purpose as exploring how narrative art "shapes our world—expressing beliefs, communicating values, expanding imagination, and inviting conversation," while architect Ma Yansong of MAD conceived the building as a "sculptural, organic form shaped by light, clouds, and the surrounding tree canopy." The design and the collection are not parallel projects; they are, in the institution's framing, two sides of one vision.

The Lucas Museum: A Unified Vision of Art and Storytelling

Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum defines its subject broadly. Its press materials describe an institution that traces visual storytelling "across cultures and centuries—from prehistoric cave paintings to illustration, comics, cinema, and murals." That sweep is deliberate: the museum's homepage organizes its galleries around themes such as "Drawing Us to Adventure" (comics), "Inspiring Wonder" (children's stories), and "Escaping into Other Worlds" (fantasy), closing with the phrase "from timeless myths to cinematic galaxies far, far away—stories connect us."

The founding vision carries a personal inflection. The museum's campus page quotes Lucas, its co-founder, on the building itself: "This art is important. Let's put it in an important building." That sentence, in miniature, is the institution's argument—that the container should be commensurate with the art, and that architecture can participate in the storytelling rather than merely house it.

What the museum means by narrative art has been articulated most directly by its chief executive. In an interview reported by Matt Stevens and Robin Pogrebin of The New York Times ahead of the opening, Tracey Bates described the institution as "a museum focused on storytelling in all its forms," adding: "Narrative art is the universal art of storytelling through images. It's existed throughout our lifetime. Storytelling has always existed. We're just now a museum that is platforming and showing that."

Architecture as Narrative: Ma Yansong's Organic Design

Ma Yansong's firm, MAD, has published its own account of the design's intent, and it is notably unguarded about the storytelling metaphor. The project page describes the building as serving "as a metaphor for storytelling and imagination, offering a space to explore new possibilities," conceived as "a reflection of Los Angeles's vibrant pioneering spirit and embrace of its diverse inhabitants, representing a celebration of dialogue, understanding, and inclusivity." The firm characterizes the result as a "biomorphic, dream-like form" with "fluid and soft shapes," an "organic sculptural form in a park that pushes the boundaries of architecture and creates a sense of wonder."

The museum's opening announcement extends that language into the visitor experience. The building, it states, is "designed with emotional architecture spaces, so that it is fluid in every part, and merged like a natural feature of the landscape into Exposition Park," inviting "everyone to participate in a journey of discovery and become part of the story of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art." The phrase "emotional architecture" is the connective tissue: where a conventional museum building organizes visitors efficiently, this one is framed as organizing them narratively—into curiosity, movement, and arrival.

The museum's campus page attributes the design's shaping forces to natural elements—light, clouds, and the tree canopy—rather than to formal geometry. Executed with Stantec serving as executive architect, per the museum's press materials, the 300,000-square-foot building rises five stories above a landscaped campus, with the surrounding gardens designed by Mia Lehrer and her team at Studio-MLA.

Architecture as Narrative: A Unified Vision

The clearest way to see the institution's coherence is to place its stated architectural principles beside its stated curatorial goals. The table below reconciles the two, drawing on the museum's own descriptions and MAD's project materials.

Reconciling the Lucas Museum's stated architectural principles with its curatorial goals
Aspect	Stated Principle or Goal	How the Two Connect
Building form	Ma Yansong conceived the museum as a sculptural, organic form shaped by light, clouds, and the tree canopy; MAD describes a biomorphic, dream-like form with fluid, soft shapes.	Fluidity in architecture mirrors the museum's treatment of storytelling as continuous across cultures and centuries rather than divided by medium or era.
Siting	The building is designed to merge "like a natural feature of the landscape into Exposition Park," amid gardens by Mia Lehrer and Studio-MLA.	Presenting the museum as part of the park frames narrative art as an everyday, public activity rather than a rarefied one—matching the mission's language of "inviting conversation."
Visitor journey	The museum describes "emotional architecture spaces" that invite visitors on "a journey of discovery" in which they "become part of the story."	The visitor is positioned as a participant in narrative rather than a spectator of it, echoing the curatorial claim that stories "connect us" and help us "see ourselves in one another."
Collection scope	The museum traces visual storytelling from prehistoric cave paintings through illustration, comics, cinema, and murals.	An inclusive definition of narrative art requires a building that does not signal a single tradition; the organic form avoids the neoclassical or institutional associations of many museum buildings.
Imagination as a public resource	MAD describes the design as "a metaphor for storytelling and imagination, offering a space to explore new possibilities."	The building itself is presented as an object of imagination, extending the collection's argument—that images move us and shape collective memory—into architecture.

Reconciling the Lucas Museum's stated architectural principles with its curatorial goals

Aspect

Stated Principle or Goal

How the Two Connect

Building form

Ma Yansong conceived the museum as a sculptural, organic form shaped by light, clouds, and the tree canopy; MAD describes a biomorphic, dream-like form with fluid, soft shapes.

Fluidity in architecture mirrors the museum's treatment of storytelling as continuous across cultures and centuries rather than divided by medium or era.

Siting

The building is designed to merge "like a natural feature of the landscape into Exposition Park," amid gardens by Mia Lehrer and Studio-MLA.

Presenting the museum as part of the park frames narrative art as an everyday, public activity rather than a rarefied one—matching the mission's language of "inviting conversation."

Visitor journey

The museum describes "emotional architecture spaces" that invite visitors on "a journey of discovery" in which they "become part of the story."

The visitor is positioned as a participant in narrative rather than a spectator of it, echoing the curatorial claim that stories "connect us" and help us "see ourselves in one another."

Collection scope

The museum traces visual storytelling from prehistoric cave paintings through illustration, comics, cinema, and murals.

An inclusive definition of narrative art requires a building that does not signal a single tradition; the organic form avoids the neoclassical or institutional associations of many museum buildings.

Imagination as a public resource

MAD describes the design as "a metaphor for storytelling and imagination, offering a space to explore new possibilities."

The building itself is presented as an object of imagination, extending the collection's argument—that images move us and shape collective memory—into architecture.

Read together, the rows support a single conclusion: the museum's stated design choices are intended as curatorial statements. The organic form, the park integration, and the language of emotional journey are not aesthetic preferences layered onto a mission; in the institution's own framing, they are the mission, expressed in concrete, light, and landscape.

Beyond the Galleries: An Immersive Campus Experience

The museum extends its narrative ambitions outdoors. Its campus page describes a 13-acre site of trees and landscaped gardens surrounding the building, with paths, meadows, and shaded gathering areas offering what the museum calls "much-needed green space for the South Los Angeles region." The landscaping incorporates sustainable design: rainwater capture for irrigation, a waterfall-like fountain contributing to renewable cooling, and rooftop solar panels supplying clean energy.

The grounds are themselves curated. Reporting by Stevens and Pogrebin describes 13 acres of landscaped exterior space dotted with sculptures—including one of Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia—alongside 10 large outdoor sculptures, situating the museum within Exposition Park alongside the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the California African American Museum, the California Science Center, and a Metro stop.

Inside, the amenities reinforce the same philosophy. The five-story building houses 100,000 square feet of galleries, two state-of-the-art cinematic theaters, and spaces for learning, dining, and retail. The restaurant, Skywalker Grill—designed by Rockwell Group and operated by Rhubarb Hospitality Collection, part of Oak View Group—pairs classic American cuisine with California-grown ingredients and remains open beyond museum hours, offering panoramic views of Los Angeles, according to the museum's press materials. The museum frames these spaces as supporting public programs, learning, and community engagement, extending the journey of discovery beyond the gallery walls.

One Story, Two Forms: How the Lucas Museum's Building Embodies Its Curatorial Mission

The Lucas Museum: A Unified Vision of Art and Storytelling

Architecture as Narrative: Ma Yansong's Organic Design

Tags

Architecture as Narrative: A Unified Vision

Defining Narrative Art: A Broad Curatorial Scope

Beyond the Galleries: An Immersive Campus Experience

Embracing the Narrative Journey

Sources

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