George Lucas’ 23-acre San Francisco campus now has 4 buildings and 17-acre meadow

A giant bronze Yoda statue stands on a brick fountain in a quiet San Francisco park. Behind it, four red-brick buildings house some of the world’s most advanced digital film studios. Rolling hills, streams, and old trees surround the site. In 2005, film director George Lucas opened this 850,000-square-foot digital arts campus on 23 acres of a former Army hospital site inside the Presidio of San Francisco. Two decades later, the Letterman Digital Arts Center has changed from a military medical site into a major creative hub. Here, classic park scenery meets modern film technology. The campus serves as the global headquarters for Lucasfilm, visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and game development teams. It brings together thousands of artists, programmers, and filmmakers on a site that remains open to the public.From military hospital to digital studioThe land where the campus now stands has a long history.