Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Site
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international Prairie/streamline era adam morgan danny sheng Johnson Wax Building Frank Lloyd Wright Racine, Wisconsin 1936-39 I. G. Farben Offices Hans Poelzig Frankfurt, Germany, c. 1928-31 Social context Both buildings were built for rapidly expanding companies: IG Farben, at the time, was the largest conglomerate for dyes, chemicals and drugs and Johnson Wax, later SC Johnson. the site of the two buildings are vastly different; the johnson wax building is in a suburben area and takes un the entire block on which it is located. Con- versely, the ig farben building reads as a building in a landscape, the scale of the site is much larger than wright’s. Both building’s however are part of a larger complex of buildings. Site
Transcript of Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Site
internationalPrairie/streamline era
adam morgan danny sheng
Johnson Wax BuildingFrank Lloyd Wright Racine, Wisconsin1936-39
I. G. Farben OfficesHans Poelzig
Frankfurt, Germany, c. 1928-31
Social contextBoth buildings were built for rapidly expanding companies: IG Farben, at the time, was the largest conglomerate for dyes, chemicals and drugs and Johnson Wax, later SC Johnson.
the site of the two buildings are vastly different; the johnson wax building is in a suburben area and takes un the entire block on which it is located. Con-
versely, the ig farben building reads as a building in a landscape, the scale of the site is much larger than wright’s. Both building’s however are part of a
larger complex of buildings.
Site
office towersconnecting wingentrance hall
research toweradministration building
Entry is on the transverse axis along which the building is bilaterally symmetri-cal. This classical approach is further enforced by the “temple-like” portico on the front of the building
entry is similar to that of Unity Temple and Robie House. The entry is hidden from view and approached on the transverse axis, this leads to a low dark space just prior to entry which opens up into a well lit expan-sive space making the entry
Bilateral symmetry
building is almost bilaterally symmetrical
“temple Front” entrance
adam morgan danny sheng
Johnson Wax BuildingFrank Lloyd Wright Racine, Wisconsin1936-39
I. G. Farben OfficesHans Poelzig
Frankfurt, Germany, c. 1928-31
Composition
Both buildings are horizontally dominated compositions
adam morgan danny sheng
Johnson Wax BuildingFrank Lloyd Wright Racine, Wisconsin1936-39
I. G. Farben OfficesHans Poelzig
Frankfurt, Germany, c. 1928-31
By arranging the building’s mass as a series of bars connected by a single wing, the exterior surface area of the building is increased as compared to a traditional courtyard office building. This is important because the increased surface area allows more natural light and ventilation to enter the building. Upon its completed, the building was the largest office complex in the world
Like other office buildings of its time, the Johnson Wax Building had window-less offices and air conditioned spaces. Innovation to the office build-ing typology was done through the incorporation of communal facilities such as a squash court and a 250 seat auditorium. In addition to this, Wright created an expansive “great workroom” flooded with natural light that filtered through “his forest of mushroom columns.” It was described by Hitchcock as, “like some great ma-chine for working in and, as such, more convincing than anything in Europe. Inside and out, the building projected a buisness-like air of effi-ciency while creating a calm, relaxed atmosphere for the employees”
The footprint of the IG Farben Building and a typical courtyard office building of the same floor area. Despite both buildings having the same enclosed footprint, the IG Farben building’s perimeter is nearly twice that as the courtyard scheme.
Innovation on the Office Building Typology
adam morgan danny sheng
Johnson Wax BuildingFrank Lloyd Wright Racine, Wisconsin1936-39
I. G. Farben OfficesHans Poelzig
Frankfurt, Germany, c. 1928-31
the ig farben building used a paternoster elevator. the elevator cars are on a linked “cam system”and rotate together like a water wheel; as one side of the system moves up, the other moves down.
structure
Further innovation came in the building’s structure which was completely designed and tested by Frank Lloyd Wright himself. The “mushroom” column would form the modular for the building’s plan and allow for the top lighting in the “Great Workroom”
for his towers, FLW based his dtruc-ture off that of a tree; a structural core (trunk) from which floor slabs (branches) would cantilever out from. the foundation was similar to the root system for which FLW choose a single “tap root” design
Golden Beacon Tower 1956
Mile High Tower 1956
the golden beakon and mile high tower, both paper projects, proposed using similar structural systems as the tower of johnson wax building
unity temple and robie house have simi-lar processional entries as the john-son wax building
the pyrex tube glazing and banding of the building’s elements draw from the composition of robie house and its horizontal detailing
Robie House 1908
Unity Temple 1908
works cited
Alofsin , Anthony. Prairie skyscraper : Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower . New York: Rizzoli , 2005.
Flagge, Ingeborg, and Anna Meseure. Architecture in Germany. Munich: Pre stel Verleg, 2001.
"I. G. Farben, Creighton Abrams Building." Frankfurt American High School. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.frankfurthigh.com/history/subpages/IGFarben.htm>.
"IG Farben Building." , Frankfurt. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.aviewoncities.com/frankfurt/igfarbenhaus.htm>.
McCarter, Robert, James Steele, and Brian Carter. Frank Lloyd Wright . London: Phaidon, 1999.
Haus des Rundfunks berlin 1929
adam morgan danny sheng
Johnson Wax BuildingFrank Lloyd Wright Racine, Wisconsin1936-39
I. G. Farben OfficesHans Poelzig
Frankfurt, Germany, c. 1928-31
other works
also designed in the inter-national syleHaus des Rundfunks has a simple geometrc plan with punched windows and stone cladding, similar to ig farbe offices
