The Johnson Wax Buildings; Frank Lloyd Wright

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 Fig. 6. First-floor plan. Capital Journal project. Sepia print. 33" x 34". (Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

As Gibson (2021) stated, the Johnson Wax Headquarters – also known as the Johnson Wax Administration Building – was completed between 1936 and 1939 in Racine, Wisconsin. It provided the main office for SC Johnson & Son, an American manufacturer of household cleaning supplies.

Despite its location in an industrial park, Wright designed the building in his organic architecture style with references to natural forms. This is exemplified in the main open-plan office space, which is often described as forest-like. This is exactly what I am looking for whilst designing my space, it needs to have a natural aspect to it in order to accommodate it to its environment.

Fig. 7. Roof garden level and mezzanine floor plan. Capital Journal project. Sepia print. 33" x 34". (Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

Fig.8. West elevation, Capital Journal project. Sepia print. 33" x 34"(Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

Fig.9. Section, looking south. Capital Journal project. 

According to Lipman (1986), The Capital-Journal design had a single, large area in the lower half where printing presses were supposed to be situated. A mezzanine that surrounded the room housed some of the glazed offices, while others shared the floor. During that period, it was usual for factories to support a ceiling slab over a large area with mushroom columns. The outer walls were made of glass, set in copper screens that hung from above. In addition to letting in an abundance of light, the translucent walls would have made the columns visible from the street, as shown in Wright's elevations. There were two circular stair towers close to the front of the structure, and a circular service ramp encircled a chimney in the back. There were two-story flats above, surrounding a garden court for the owner and employees of the firm Sepia Print. 33" x 34". (Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation).

Fig. 18. Choisy drawing of the Great Workroom and lobby.

This is characterized by a large mezzanine-enclosed, skylight office space for the company's-clerical workers, the Johnson Administration Building resembles the Larkin Building conceptually. the mushroom-column-and-slab structural system and the two-story space are based on the Capital Journal project. (Drawing by Gerald Wilson)

When I first saw this design I thought that I should implement this into my project, it reflects the inspiration that I had at first when I first started this project, which I already used for the tower. I am going to use this design on the ground floor of this building, 


References:
  • Gibson, E. and Gibson, E. (2021) Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Johnson Wax offices as a forest open to the sky. [Online] Dezeen. Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/14/frank-lloyd-wright-johnson-wax-administration-building-headquarters-racine-wisconsin-open-plan-office/.
  • Lipman, J. (1986) Frank Lloyd Wright and the Johnson Wax Buildings. New York. RIZZOLI INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Comments

  1. Sam DarganFebruary 22, 2024 at 12:22 AM

    Mouad, I'm not sure how you think this is a research post. Surely you understand that to cut and paste from another source and to not have any evidence of sources in terms of referencing is not adequate. I want you to use this research as part of your justification of your design idea. how is Wright's design relevant to your project? You need to make this clear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sam DarganFebruary 27, 2024 at 4:23 PM

    Flesh this out and add your sketches

    ReplyDelete

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