Lucas Picks Lakefront Museum Architects

CHICAGO—The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has just chosen a set of architects to design the its lakefront site, and although founder George Lucas picked Beijing-based MAD Architects as the principal designer, he did not ignore Chicago’s deep pool of architectural talent. Chicago-based Studio Gang was chosen to design the landscape and create a bridge to connect the LMNA to Northerly Island.

Many people have expressed skepticism that the city’s Museum Campus is the place for a museum partly dedicated to the mythology of the “Star Wars” films, but Lucas has sought to calm those fears by making it clear that LMNA would, as its name implies, showcase a collection that goes far beyond the movies. And by choosing this group of architects, he may also want to assure the skeptics that the building will have aesthetic qualities that make it worthy of its prominent site.