Something unusual has happened in Exposition Park. For years the site was a flat stretch of asphalt and temporary fencing. Then the fences started coming down, and a white, curving volume appeared that does not look like it grew from the ground in the usual way. It looks as if it settled there.
Have you ever stood in front of a building and felt, for a second, that it arrived rather than being built? That is the first reaction many people have when they see the finished Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec as executive architect, the five-story structure is now complete and will open to the public on September 22, 2026.
The questions that follow are the ones the design itself seems to ask. How do you make a large museum feel light? How do you keep the ground open for people while still creating enough space for art, theaters, and learning? How do you turn a free-form digital model into something that can stand up in an earthquake zone? The answers sit in the construction details that have just been revealed.
The Skin That Holds the Shape
More than 1,200 panels of fiberglass-reinforced polymer now cover the entire exterior. Every panel is a different shape. The average size is roughly 8 by 32 feet. The material is light enough to form continuous compound curves without adding heavy structural load, yet rigid enough to keep the surface smooth.
This is where parametric thinking moved from screen to site. Digital models generated thousands of slight variations so each panel could fit its exact position on the free-form surface. Robots helped cut and form them. From a distance, the building reads as one continuous white skin. Step closer, and the individual panels remain visible, which stops the surface from feeling sealed or plastic.
Why choose this material over more conventional cladding? Traditional systems would have been heavier and far more difficult to bend into the tight curves MAD wanted. The lighter FRP panels let the steel frame stay efficient while still delivering the soft, cloud-like outline that has defined the project from the beginning. The result is a building that looks almost weightless even though it covers 300,000 square feet
The Structure That Disappears
Under that soft exterior sits a dense web of steel beams, columns, and trusses. At the center of the building, arched steel members span 185 feet to create a covered public plaza. Four stories above that plaza, an elliptical oculus opens straight to the sky.
The entire structure rests on 281 seismic base isolators. In a major earthquake, the ground can move up to 42 inches in any direction while the building above remains more stable. A surrounding moat gives the isolators the space they need to work. This kind of system is more common in hospitals than in museums, yet it makes clear sense for a building that will hold irreplaceable art in Southern California.
Have you thought about how much of the architecture is actually about what you cannot see? The isolators, the long-span arches, and the hidden steel network are exactly what allow the soft shape to stand and invite people to walk freely underneath. Without them, the floating effect would be impossible.
A Building That Refuses the Usual Plinth
The elevated form frees the ground plane completely. What used to be a surface parking lot is now rolling topography designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. Paths, gardens, and open lawns connect the museum to the rest of Exposition Park. Hundreds of trees are already in the ground. The roof continues the landscape idea with planted zones mixed among photovoltaic panels.
Inside, roughly 100,000 square feet of gallery space spreads across more than thirty rooms. Two theaters, a library with large windows facing the park, classrooms, a café, a restaurant, and a shop complete the program. Circulation is meant to feel continuous rather than divided into rigid wings.
Ma has said he wanted the architecture to work through atmosphere more than through formal statements. The soft curves, the light falling through the oculus, and the constant contact with the surrounding gardens all serve that goal. The building does not rise from a hard podium. It pinches inward near the ground and then flares outward so the upper floors appear to float.
What would it feel like to walk under that 185-foot arch on a hot Los Angeles afternoon and find real shade and open space instead of a solid wall? The design answers that question by giving the ground back to the public while the museum itself occupies the air above.
From Parking Lot to Working Landmark
Construction began in 2018 after the project settled in Los Angeles following earlier attempts in other cities. Digging the underground parking produced enough soil to fill more than a hundred Olympic-sized swimming pools. The building itself contains about 118,000 cubic yards of concrete.
Local hiring goals shaped the workforce. More than 4,000 workers took part, with the majority living in Los Angeles County. Subcontracting opportunities went to firms owned by women, minorities, and veterans. The project team included more than 150 architects, engineers, and designers sharing digital models throughout the process.
The finished building now sits as a clear new piece of Exposition Park, near the Natural History Museum and the California African American Museum. Its curved white form contrasts with the older institutional buildings around it, yet the open ground plane and planted roof pull it back into the park.
The latest images show the cladding complete, the plaza cleaned, and the landscape taking hold. What began as a free-form digital model has become a working public building. The technical details, the unique FRP panels, the long-span arches, the isolators, are precisely what allow the soft shape to stand and invite people underneath.
The museum is ready. In a few weeks, the doors will open, and the questions the building has been asking will meet the people who walk through it. The answers are already built into the form.
A New Chapter for Narrative Art
Beyond its technical achievements and structural feats, the Lucas Museum represents a fundamental shift in how civic architecture engages with the public realm. By lifting 300,000 square feet of museum space off the ground, MAD Architects has accomplished something rarely seen in modern institutional design: expanding a museum’s interior capacity without sacrificing an inch of open public parkland. The street level remains accessible, inviting visitors to linger beneath the shaded canopy long before they ever purchase a ticket or step inside a gallery.
When the doors officially open on September 22, 2026, visitors will experience a space where architecture, visual storytelling, and urban nature seamlessly converge. From the sweeping curves of its custom FRP skin to the quiet engineering of its hidden base isolators, every construction detail serves a single purpose: making a massive museum feel inviting, weightless, and deeply connected to its surroundings. What was once a flat stretch of concrete in Exposition Park has been transformed into a dynamic public landscape, proving that when digital innovation meets thoughtful urban design, architecture can give as much back to the ground as it takes up in the sky.
