How does an ambitious architectural vision become a built reality? What does a cultural institution owe to its host city? These are the kinds of questions surrounding the just-opened Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which Architectural Digest calls "otherworldly," the LA Times "futuristic," and the New York Times "weird and wonderful."
Opened just yesterday following decades of planning, the project may just be the most dramatic addition to Los Angeles's built environment in decades. Comprising 300,000 square feet of galleries, two movie theaters, and multiple restaurants, the building has helped to catapault Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects, to stardom.
"The city—indeed the world—has never seen anything like it," proclaims Mayer Rus in his AD review. And attendees of the Design Summit will get to hear from one of the creatives behind it all.
As the Project Manager on the Lucas Museum, Flora Lee, associate partner at MAD, was integral in bringing the project to fruition, leading a global team across design, engineering, and programming, bridging technical expertise and creative vision to produce one of the most exciting new cultural institutions in the world.
Before—and, indeed, during—her work on the Lucas Museum, Flora oversaw construction on Denver's One River North, LA's Gardenhouse, and the 650,000 square foot Xinhee Design Center in Xiamen, China, to name a few. She has taught at the
NewSchool of Architecture and Design and Santa Monica College and delivered TedX talks.
This November, she'll take the stage to pull back the curtain on LA's monumental new institution, sharing the technical, cultural, and spatial considerations behind its completion. She'll also speak more broadly to cross-cultural collaboration, longterm vision, and the future of the built environment.
To see Flora onstage at the Design Summit, secure your registration here.
