After a long political controversy and obstructive process, The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has revelaed two proposals designed by MAD Architects at the same time, one is conceived for Treasure Island in San Francisco and the other one is placed for Exposition Park in Los Angeles.

In June, after a long debate, George Lucas withdrawn plans to build Lucas Museum in Chicago by showing a reason that "No one benefits from continuing their seemingly unending litigation to protect a parking lot," filmmaker George Lucas said. "The actions initiated by Friends of Parks and their recent attempts to extract concessions from the city have effectively overridden approvals received from numerous democratically elected bodies of government."

In the light of several delays and conflicts on plans, 'Star Wars' creator George Lucas selected new place of the Lucas Museum as California by thinking that building the museum along the city's lakefront would be beneficial for showcasing his art collection.

MAD's first proposal for San Francisco-strecthing out along the waterfront

Now, MAD proposes two different designs for different sites for San Francisco and Los Angeles, both of them are comprised of a sinuous and fluid structure with equal transparent openness -look like a modern space ship. In the first proposal, MAD's design approximately occupies 265,000–275,000 net square feet area for interior spaces and 90,000–100,000 square feet for galleries, located in Treasure Island, and artificial island in San Francisco bay.

The first proposed design will be a part of an ongoing Island's masterplan plan developed by SOM - new masterplan of Treasure Island connects ferry terminals and gives access to the mainland, allowing an extensive public space and green infill.

MAD's second proposal in the city's Exposion Park 

In the second design of MAD, Ma Yansong's fluid-formed proposal is placed in the LA's Exposition Park where it neighbours to the Natural History Museum and Coliseum. The new museum forms a tent-like structure allowing a vast scale of public space with green environment. 

The museum is raised up by three massive elliptical spaces touching the ground and are defined as semi-opened gallery spaces, which make easy to access to the visitors.

MAD's second proposal in a huge green infill -a tent-like structure integrated with openness 

MAD's second proposal creates the same amount of interior space occupying 265,000–275,000 net square feet area, while including 90,000–100,000 square feet area for galleries. The second design also includes an underground parking which accommodates approximately 1,800 vehicles. MAD adds 24,000 square meters (6-7 acre) green space with plants and tree covered roof-terraces for the second design. 

The design of Lucas Museum started in 2014 with a competition and MAD Architects unveiled its first tent-like design for the Lucas Museum inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, integrating the natural beauty of the park and Lake Michigan with the powerful man-made architecture of Chicago.

When the first plans revealed, the museum faced with numerous criticism and ''It looks like a palace for Jabba the Hutt. I was wondering what planet we are on,'' said Chicago alderman Bob Fioretti. Friends of the Parks filed a lawsuit in November, 2014 against the Chicago Park District and the city of Chicago over the museum plans, contending the proposed site near Lake Michigan violates the public trust.

Frank Gehry had defended MAD's first proposal by saying that ''the work presented for the Lucas Museum has precedent. It's not just out of the blue; it is something that has been in the air for many years. The use of rooftops as public space has precedent in the Malmo Concert Hall in Sweden by Snohetta. It is one of the first great examples, and I think it has proved very successful. Zaha Hadid has used flowing forms in many of her projects to great effect. If we go even further back, Eric Mendelsohn was using organic forms to create his masterpieces such as the Einstein Tower in Germany.''

''I would hope that the people of Chicago take the proper time to review the Lucas Museum. I also hope that they will give the client and the architects sufficient time to develop the project — to work with the city and the public to evolve the design.''

''Please do not dismiss it because it doesn't look like something you've never seen before,'' Gehry said.

The Lucas Museum will celebrate the power of visual storytelling in a setting focused on narrative painting, illustration, photography, film, animation and digital art. Narrative art is all about stories, and the moments in those stories captured by the artists. The Lucas Museum will be a barrier free museum where artificial divisions between “high” art and “popular” art are absent, allowing you to explore a wide array of compelling visual storytelling. 

''This is the first museum of its kind, with an unprecedented collection that features fine art and popular art from illustration to comics, an insider’s perspective on the cinematic creative process and the boundless potential of the digital medium. We are a museum unlike any other,'' says the committee of Lucas Museum. 

All images courtesy of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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