Commentary: As Lucas Museum cordons off main courtyard, a public space inches toward gated compound
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Set us as preferred The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s central plaza, which spreads out beneath the building’s curved, hovering form, was always meant to be a generous civic space.Ma Yansong, the museum’s architect, has called it the “Gateway” between the museum and Los Angeles, opening to both Expo Park and the surrounding South L.A.
neighborhood.But that gateway, it turns out, is more like a gate.This weekend — the first that the museum was open to the public — fences covered in plastic greenery blocked entry to the plaza from both sides.Standing sentry, bizarrely, were tall, cartoonish statues — half storm troopers, half USC Trojans.
Visitors were directed to enter through the museum’s two enclosed security booths off the plaza.In the coming weeks, permanent plaza fences will be erected here — curvy stainless-steel structures that MAD Architects principal Dixon Junliang Lu compared to the lacy filigree of Art Nouveau architecture.Lu added that they would eventually be draped in real greenery, not the plastic version.While certainly an improvement on the current barriers (which are a shockingly makeshift solution for a museum that cost over $1 billion), the plaza’s main entryways will remain gated off, confirmed both Lu and Lucas Museum spokesperson Seth Fowler.“It’s about creating the best possible visitor experience when you’re there, with an eye on safety,” said Fowler, who cited a need to protect the plaza from car traffic on both sides and the ability to control visitor flow among the reasons for the enclosure.Visitors without tickets, Fowler added, are still able to enter the plaza, as well as the museum’s cafe and gift shop, after passing through security, “pending capacity limits.” They can enter the museum’s adjacent park without security screening.
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