Chinese architect's design for George Lucas' museum
Chicago is known as a world capital of modern architecture. And a Chinese architect is poised to make his mark on the city. Ma Yansong's firm is behind the blueprints for Chicago's new George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, but there is some opposition on the ground.
When filmmaker George Lucas -- of Star Wars and Indiana Jones fame -- announces he's building a museum, you might expect something unusual. And you would be right.
This is what The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will look like, according to the initial conceptual designs unveiled in Chicago on Monday.
And this is the man behind it - 39-year old architect from China, Ma Yanson, who's won international acclaim for museums in China and the curvaceous Absolute Towers near Toronto.
"I feel very lucky, 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 it 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, Ma says, between structure and nature.
"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," he said.
The building will feature a 360-degree observation deck. And the location, supporters say, couldn't be better-- along Chicago's prized lakefront.
Although this site right now is two parking lots and there isn't much greenery around, advocates of open space in Chicago still oppose building the museum in this specific location.
But there is opposition: Cassandra Francis, of Friends of the Parks, calls the project a land-eating colossus, an intrusion on the lakefront that she says should stay clear and open.
"It would be the start of a slippery slope that would possibly open the entire lakefront to shoreline sprawl," he said.
But Ma believes he's bringing 21st-century architecture to the city he came to as a Yale graduate student 14 years ago for an internship.
"It's a city open to new ideas, we feel very happy that today we have this great opportunity to create something new for the city," Ma said.
As a Chinese architect allowed to envision a cultural landmark in the U.S., Ma hopes the city that once inspired him will come to love his new design.
