Johnson Wax Headquarters

Interior, Great Workroom, of the Johnson Wax Headquarters building

Johnson Wax Headquarters or SC Johnson Administration Building (1936-1939) is the headquarters of the company SC Johnson & Son, Inc. in Racine , Wisconsin , United States, built by Frank Lloyd Wright from 1936 to 1939 .

building

The architect Wright designed in 1936 a completely introverted building complex, the spaces are only indirectly exposed through skylights in wall and ceiling. Inside the building, expressive, mushroom-shaped concrete supports structure the large work area and support the roof. Wright used more than 200 different types of brick to create his idea of ​​fluid movement on the walls. He also designed all of the building's furniture. The 14-story Research Tower , which was built later and housed the research laboratory, completed the ensemble. Its rounded corners and ribbon windows made of frosted glass tubes, which ensure even light inside and reinforce the introvertedness of the building, are defining. The tower has no visible supports on the facades. The floor slabs protrude from a central main support that also contains the supply shaft.

Johnson Wax Headquarters received the American Institute of Architects' Twenty-five Year Award in 1974 . The building complex has been listed as a structure on the National Register of Historic Places since December 1974 . In January 1976, Johnson Wax Headquarters was granted National Historic Landmark status.

literature

• Bruno Zevi: Frank Lloyd Wright . Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1998, ISBN 978-3-7643-5987-4
• Daniel Driver: Frank Lloyd Wright. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7643-8696-2
• Terence Riley (ed.): Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect. Abrams, New York 1994, 344 pp., Overw. Ill., Graph. Darst., ISBN 0-8109-6122-9 , exhibition catalog of the Museum of Modern Art
• Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer: Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959. Building for Democracy. Taschen-Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8228-2450-X

Web links

Commons : Johnson Wax Headquarters  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Film on YouTube about the building
• SC Johnson & Son, Inc. official website .
• SC Johnson: The Golden Rondelle Website with links and tour information to the Johnson Wax building.
• The Johnson Wax Building on Great Buildings Online
• The building on architecture.about

Individual evidence

1. ↑ American Institute of Architects : list of winners
2. ^ Johnson, SC, and Son Administration Building and Research Tower on the National Register of Historic Places, accessed March 13, 2020.
3. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Wisconsin. National Park Service , accessed March 13, 2020.

Coordinates: 42 ° 42 ′ 48.6 "  N , 87 ° 47 ′ 26.5"  W.