Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Approved

The approval comes about one-and-half years after Lucas selected Chicago as the desired location of the 300,000-sf museum, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel donated 17 acres of prime land that is currently occupied by a parking lot. According to a local report, the zoning approval "calls for more parking and tailgating spots for Chicago Bears fans," in addition to 200,000 square feet of parkland.

The design by MAD's Ma Yansong, which was unveiled one year ago and refined last month, envisions a mountaineous structured covered in stone and surrounded by parkland. Criticism to the project has addressed its alien form but more often its lakefront location, which is meant to be free of buildings per the city's Lakefront Ordinance.

According to another report, "City approval of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art seemed all but ordained, given the strong support Emanuel has thrown behind the concept and the fact aldermen are reluctant to draw the mayor's ire by opposing projects he has made a high priority." That the non-profit museum is being funded entirely by Lucas must have also played a part in the decision.

A court hearing for the Friends of the Park's lawsuit against the project will happen on November 10, but all that remains otherwise for the project to be built are the necessary building permits and approvals, which will be fall to local architect VOA Associates (MAD is also working with SCAPE and Studio Gang Architects on the landscape). Completion is optimistically anticipated for 2019.