Chinese architect unveils plans for George Lucas museum in Chicago

Global Business

A Chinese architect is bringing a new take on modern design to Chicago. Ma Yansong and his firm MAD Architects are set to design the new George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. CCTV America’s Roza Kazan has reported this story from Chicago.

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Ma’s initial conceptual design for George Lucas’ museum was unveiled in Chicago on Monday. The 39-year old architect from China has won international acclaim for museums in China and the curvaceous Absolute Towers near Toronto.

“I feel very lucky, [it’s] very exciting. George Lucas is a very creative person and this museum will be a great cultural asset to the city of Chicago,” Ma said.

Ma calls his work a new type of architecture. Rising up like sci-fi fantasy from what is now a parking lot, the seven-story building will blur the line between structure and nature. Ma said he was inspired by Chicago when he interned here 14 years ago as a Yale University graduate architecture student.

“A museum is more about the emotional reaction to the time, to the content that’s showing in the museum. So we want to create space that people can think, think about the land, think about the sky,” Ma added.

The building will feature a 360-degree observation deck and will be located along Chicago’s prized lakefront on what is now two parking lots.

However, open space advocates in Chicago oppose building the museum in this location.

Cassandra Francis of Friends of the Parks, a Chicago nonprofit, calls the project “a land-eating colossus” and an intrusion on the lakefront that she believes should stay clear and open.

“It would be the start of a slippery slope that would possibly open the entire lakefront to shoreline sprawl,” she said.