Inside Skywalker Grill at LA’s Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Skywalker Grill, the signature restaurant at Los Angeles’ newly opened Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, wraps diners in hand-milled cherry wood and softly glowing surfaces, with a 160-cover dining room, an 18-cover bar and an outdoor terrace overlooking the city.

The restaurant and the museum’s ground-floor café are the work of the Los Angeles office of Rockwell Group, the New York-based architecture and interior design studio behind the rooms and suites at SLS Barcelona.

Set in Exposition Park, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a 300,000 sq ft museum with two theatres and dedicated spaces for learning and engagement, dining, retail and events. Its architecture is by Ma Yansong of MAD, with gardens by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA.

Rockwell Group conceived Skywalker Grill as a fusion of contemporary and mid-century modern design, drawing on the optimism and warmth of California’s residential interiors and playing off the museum’s distinctive exterior. Columns and architectural elements are placed to frame the views, while continuous curves and sculpted forms give the room a sense of movement, with the aim of creating somewhere people want to linger over a relaxed, convivial meal.

The design also nods to George Lucas’s own world. The warmth and hospitality of his Skywalker Ranch, and his preference for cherry wood, run through the dining room, where hand- and machine-milled cherry-wood panels wrap the walls and ceiling so that no two panels match. White onyx slump-moulded Corian surfaces bounce soft light around the room, and finger-raked cherry-wood columns echo the tambour banquettes around its edge.

The bar is the room’s centrepiece, with a crystal silver-leaf bar die and a glowing Corian back bar wall. As the wood panels rise to meet the central tower above it, they change shape, bringing the modern and the traditional together.

The curved cherry-wood walls rise to a coved ceiling finished in hand-applied acoustic plaster, with the panel joints aligned to conceal recessed lighting and give an even glow. Each panel is a different shape and size and is individually mounted.

A sculptural central banquette, capped in cherry wood and Corian, anchors the room, with more intimate seating groups gathered around it. Custom tables have warm wood tops and artisan-crafted glass lenses set into their bases, lit from within so that they cast a jewel-like glow across the floor.

“We wanted Skywalker Grill to feel intrinsically connected to the architecture and spirit of the Lucas Museum, without simply replicating it. The contrast between warm, highly crafted cherry wood and luminous, almost otherworldly surfaces allowed us to create a space that feels both familiar and futuristic. There is a sense of discovery in the details, but ultimately it is a restaurant designed around people – somewhere welcoming, convivial and memorable.”

David Rockwell, Founder and President, Rockwell Group

The private dining room carries the same design language with more privacy: a switchable glass wall turns from clear to frosted at the touch of a button to close it off. Outside, a terrace with banquettes and loose seating among lush planting offers a more relaxed, garden-like setting with views of the city, and is designed to be enjoyed from both the main dining room and the private dining room.

Conceived as a destination in its own right rather than simply a museum amenity, Skywalker Grill gives visitors somewhere to gather, eat and linger, carrying the museum’s storytelling beyond the galleries.