An innovative GFRP facade of the Lucas Museum

The construction of the Lucas Museum of Narrative with the creative design of the GFRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) facade has started in 2018 in an area of 290,000 square meters.
The museum is located in the western part of Los Angeles’ Exposition Park opposite the University of Southern California.
In honor of the creator of the Star Wars series, the museum is named after the famous American filmmaker George Lucas.
According to previous announcements, the museum is set to become a recreational and cultural complex, including the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, the California Science Center and the Los Angeles Theater.

In 2014, an international design competition was held to create a creative and innovative structure for the Lucas Museum.
Inspired by the image of a spaceship, the Chinese company MAD Architecture was able to win this attractive competition.

Lucas Museum with GFRP view

The massive building is housed on a bas-relief system that shakes the structure slowly in the event of an earthquake.
In this regard, in order for the system to work properly, the design team must pay special attention to the weight of the outer panel or the top plate of the structure.
The museum was originally intended to use glass fiber-reinforced concrete (GFRC).
These raw materials are a prominent composite material among architects for the construction of curved structures.
The use of these materials put a lot of pressure on the basic insulation system and structure.
That’s why the design team used fiberglass-reinforced plastic (GFRP), a durable, lightweight composite material.

Other explanations

The main advantage of both composites is the extremely smooth outer surface.
If the panels are installed correctly, you can benefit from this smooth surface.
Tools such as Maya, Rhino, Dynamo and Revit have been used in the design of this spaceship.
All modeling information was sent to Kreysler & Associates in Northern California for construction.
Kreysler & Associates has implemented all 1,500 GFRP components.
In this company, all foam molds are cut by CNC machine.