MAD Architects has revealed new renderings of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that’s just broke ground in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park this week. Founded by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, the museum will take on a fittingly futuristic spaceship-like appearance crafted in MAD Architects’ iconic curvaceous style. The US$ 1.5 billion museum is expected to be complete and open to the public by the second half of 2021. Since winning the International Competition of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in 2014, MAD Architects has developed three unique designs for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, each of which respond to the three proposed project locations in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The non-profit museum’s confirmed home in Los Angeles sits on approximately 44.5 thousand square meters of land in Exposition Park. The building’s interior has been designed as an expansive, open cave, flooded with natural light from skylights above. At least US$ 400 million worth of art will be housed in the museum, including over 10,000 paintings, illustrations and movie memorabilia. Skylights allow sunlight to flood the interior space, and guide visitors through the museum’s various programs. The first floor and roof of the building are expansive public areas that can be enjoyed by everyone. People can exercise here, relax, talk to the surrounding natural environment, and directly experience nature in the urban environment.”

One of the biggest homes in U.S. history is rising on a Los Angeles hilltop, and the developer hopes to sell it for a record US$ 500 million. Nile Niami, a film producer and speculative residential developer, is pouring concrete in L.A.'s Bel Air neighborhood for a compound with a 6,9 thousand square meter main residence and three smaller homes, according to city records. The project, which will take at least 20 more months to complete, will exceed 9,3 thousand square meters, including a 465 square meters master bedroom, a 30-car garage and a "Monaco-style casino," Niami said. Niami's project, on a 1.6-hectare hilltop lot, will have 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, Beverly Hills, downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Plans called for removal of almost 30,600 cubic meters of earth, the equivalent of an American football field covered by 6 meters of dirt. Niami's mansion is set to be the largest built in the U.S. this century, surpassing Versailles, a 8,3 thousand square meters chateau in Windermere, Florida, under construction for David Siegel, founder and chief executive officer of Westgate Resorts. Estates with views of the Los Angeles basin are the California counterpart to Manhattan's penthouses or London's Mayfair manors, drawing a global cast of financiers, technology tycoons and celebrities who collect trophy homes like works of art. Around the world, five properties sold for US$ 100 million or more last year, and at least 20 others have nine-figure asking prices, Christie's International Real Estate reported last month. The priciest home ever sold was a US$ 221 million London penthouse purchased in 2011, according to Christie's. The most expensive properties on the market include a US$ 750 million rancho in USA, a US$ 425 million estate in France's Cote d'Azur Villa Leopolda, an almost US$ 400 million penthouse in Monaco and a US$ 365 million London manor.

Construction workers in downtown Los Angeles finished laying the foundation for a planned 73-story skyscraper expected to be the tallest west of the Mississippi River as they completed the world's largest continuous pour of concrete, reported news agency Reuters. The 21,200 cubic yards of concrete weighing some 38,200 metric tons was hauled to the site by a fleet of over 200 trucks making a total of 2,120 trips in a continuous 19-hour. The foundation is expected to take two weeks to completely harden, during which cool water will be pumped through a network of tubes embedded in the massive slab to absorb heat as the concrete cures. The New Wilshire Grand tower, designed to include 900 luxury hotel rooms, 37,200 square meters of offices, plus retail space, is slated to be completed in late 2016 and open in early 2017. The US$ 1 billion project is being developed by Korean Airlines, which also owned the old Wilshire Grand building that was demolished to make room for the new tower. The marathon effort to lay its foundation was certified by the Guinness World Records as the largest continuous pour of concrete ever by volume, surpassing by just 200 cubic yards the previous record set at the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas, according to Michael Empric, the Guinness adjudicator. The Venetian was completed in 1999. Rising 73 stories into the Los Angeles skyline, the New Grand Wilshire tower will measure 335 meters high, including a spire affixed to the top of the building, in a design that developers boast will make it the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

As reported by Reuters.com, a key Los Angeles freeway closed for construction work and reopened about 16 hours ahead of schedule on Sunday. After freeway reopened, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proclaimed "Mission accomplished and the early reopening saved about US$ 400 thousand in salary and other costs associated with the project". A 6.2-kilometer stretch of Interstate 405 that ranks as the most heavily traveled section of freeway in the United States was shut down on July 17 night to allow for demolition of half a bridge as part of a US$1 billion freeway widening project. Crews finished demolition work on the bridge in 37 hours, toppling two massive pillars, which interfered freeway widening. Villaraigosa said, that workers had made "great progress" on demolition of the half-century-old Mulholland Bridge. Powerful machines with long booms hammered away at the south side of the span, which was being removed to allow construction of an additional freeway lane. The plan was to leave the north-side lanes standing until the south side is rebuilt. Another closure will be required in about 11 months to demolish the north side. According to newser.com, city authorities worried about "Carmageddon" of traffic jams. That's why officials had set a fine to contractor. Project contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West faced a US$ 6 thousand fine in each direction for every 10 minutes of delay in getting the freeway reopened, according to the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. That's a total of US$ 72 thousand an hour. Despite of this, for weeks, authorities warned people that driving as usual this weekend could trigger what's been hyped as Carmageddon _ an event that could back up vehicles from the I-405 to surface streets and other freeways, causing a domino effect that could paralyze much of Los Angeles. JetBlue Airways also helped offering US$ 4 flights between Burbank and Long Beach as a special weekend promotion.