The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was not designed based on the aesthetic of “Star Wars,” nor was it inspired by the “Indiana Jones” franchise — or any film created by George Lucas, for that matter. 

“Some people ask, ‘What is the building inspired [by]?’ ‘Is this [a] spaceship?’ So my answer is ‘cloud,’ because that’s true,” said Ma Yansong, the architect of the museum and founder of MAD Architects. “I think nature can always bring some imagination to us. It’s not material. It’s not a physical existence. It’s something you can always think [about] and go beyond the realities. We borrowed a lot of nature [for] this building.”

On Tuesday evening, the museum’s opening night, Visions and Voices as well as the School of Architecture hosted Yansong to give a talk at Bovard Auditorium on his design process. His presentation was followed by a Q&A, moderated by architectural journalist Frances Anderton along with a panel featuring two of Yansong’s architectural inspirations, Thom Mayne and Eric Owen Moss.

The night kicked off with opening remarks by Brett Steele, dean of the School of Architecture, who recalled an anecdote of when Yansong brought out an aquarium as his building proposal at an architecture competition. 

“MAD [Architects] pushes beyond the conventional boundaries of architecture with work that moves across art, exhibitions, publishing and product design, continually expanding what architecture can and should be,” Steele said. 

Yansong took the audience through an account of his career, illustrated by a slide deck of sketches and images of his previous projects projected on the screen. Yansong got his start in Beijing, where he worked on various projects that aimed to tie in nature to design interactive environments.

“We’re trying to use nature as a device to become something to bring people together,” Yansong said. “Open space is needed, green space is needed, but we also want to translate that into spiritual space.”

The inspiration for the Lucas Museum was also derived from nature; not only was the shape inspired by a cloud, but according to Yansong, other aspects of the museum, such as the oculus view of the sky, were also influenced by exploring the natural world.

“I think oculus is quite personal, because everyone [is] on the same level,” Yansong said. “If you look up, you can only imagine it’s about yourself, and then you can have this dialogue with the sky.”

After reaching the Lucas Museum portion of the slideshow, Anderton joined Yansong on stage to moderate a Q&A. They discussed how Yansong, who was a young designer in comparison to his more established peers, was chosen to be the Lucas Museum’s architect about 12 years ago.

“[George Lucas and Mellody Hobson] talk about narrative art, about people’s art [and] how easy people can approach the art and feel it,” Yansong said. “[Lucas] said several times it’s not about ‘Star Wars,’ so we don’t really talk about this topic, but we often talk about, ‘What’s the narrative art?’ ‘What’s the narrative architecture?’ When you touch this topic, he will continue for hours.”

Mayne and Moss joined the conversation shortly after and began discussing why Yansong’s architecture is so innovative. The former argued it might be because he’s from a younger generation, while the latter contended it’s more of a result of the narrative and exploratory traits of Yansong’s design. Ultimately, Yansong said both viewpoints “sound too deep for [him].”

“I feel like in architecture school, there’s a lot of, well, the two architects that we saw up there,” said Kaden Schneider, a junior majoring in architecture who attended the event. “I think that’s a very traditional example of what we see from studio professors. But [Yansong] was very clear, and was like, ‘Oh, this is my train of thought.’ So being able to see how direct he could be, it was really nice.”

One message in particular was made clear: Yansong’s efforts were to “reengage people” with buildings and spaces through his design.

“I think [narrative art and nature] brings people closer to the museum, and it gives them another reason [to go], especially for people who aren’t necessarily fans of ‘Star Wars,’” said Darya Vatan, a fourth-year majoring in architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. “It creates a lot more [of], like what [Yansong] said, a spiritual connection to the actual architecture rather than just a visual connection.”

According to Yansong, that is the very goal of the museum: to make visitors feel emotionally connected to the place.

“It’s like a stage inviting people to perform themselves, so they can observe something or they think about something, and then suddenly they have some emotion,” Yansong said. “They trigger something from their inner art, then complete the whole journey. That’s what the goal for this museum [is].”