The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA) officially announced on July 28 that after a worldwide selection of architects, MAD, led by Ma Yansong, won the competition and became the lead architect for the LMNA project. At the same time, Chicago-based Studio Gang will design the museum's landscape bridge, and the American VOA Architects will serve as the local Chicago executive architect to assist MAD in its architectural design work.

"We invited the world's top architectural design firms to give visitors a unique experience before they enter the building." George Lucas, the founder of the museum and the father of "Star Wars", said: "I am very excited about the vision of the MAD's team for the museum and the green space along the lake, and I am eager to show our design to Chicago and the world."

The Lucas Narrative Museum is located in the Chicago Museum Park on the shore of Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago, adjacent to the McCormick Place designed by Luis Mies van der Rohe, a representative of the Chicago School. It covers an area of ​​17 acres and has a building area of ​​40,000 square meters. It is expected to become a new iconic cultural and educational center in Chicago after completion in 2018. It will exhibit up to 500,000 movie souvenirs and become a gathering place for the public to experience narrative art and understand the development of visual imaging (from illustrations to cinema and digital art).

The LMNA Museum evaluated the design proposals submitted by many famous architectural firms in the world, and finally MAD won with its innovative design and the concept of "integrating urban space with natural landscape". UN Studio from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, won the second place. Other competitors included London architect and Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid.

Ma Yansong, founder of MAD, will be the lead architect responsible for the design and overall concept of the LMNA building. With the design concept of integrating architecture with nature, Ma Yansong has designed many futuristic buildings, including the "Monroe Building" in Canada, the Ordos Museum in China, and Chaoyang Park Plaza in Beijing.

"I feel very honored to design the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago, a city that represents the history of modern American architecture." Ma Yansong said: "I hope that this building can move and inspire people like Mr. Lucas's collection, and become the eternal wealth of this city."

In an important commentary published on the same day, the Chicago Tribune pointed out: "In recent years, several Chicago architects have designed important buildings in China, and Ma Yansong's museum design will mark the first modern Chinese architect to create a landmark for Chicago." In fact, this is also the first time that a modern Chinese architect has won the design rights for an iconic cultural building overseas.

VOA, which designed the 32-story three-dimensional campus of Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago and the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C., will assist MAD in realizing Ma Yansong's design. "We will produce digital models that can be used as construction blueprints based on the conceptual design," said Michael Toolis, chairman and CEO of VOA. "All parts of the museum will be presented in 3D interactive technology to test daylight and verify the status of the design in different environments."

The final design of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be announced in late 2014.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: www.lucasmuseum.org (http://www.lucasmuseum.org/)