Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Frank Lloyd Wright Hans Poelzig Racine, Wisconsin Site Frankfurt, Germany, 1936-39 c. 1928-31 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. Prairie/streamline international era 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. adam morgan danny sheng Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Frank Lloyd Wright Hans Poelzig Racine, Wisconsin Composition Frankfurt, Germany, 1936-39 c. 1928-31 Both buildings are horizontally dominated compositions research tower office towers administration building connecting wing entrance hall building is almost bilaterally symmetrical Bilateral symmetry entry is similar to that of Unity Temple and Robie House. The Entry is on the transverse axis along entry is hidden from view and which the building is bilaterally symmetri- approached on the transverse cal. This classical approach is further axis, this leads to a low dark enforced by the “temple-like” portico on space just prior to entry which the front of the building opens up into a well lit expan- “temple Front” entrance sive space making the entry adam morgan danny sheng Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Frank Lloyd Wright Hans Poelzig Racine, Wisconsin Innovation on the Office Frankfurt, Germany, 1936-39 Building Typology 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 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. 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” adam morgan danny sheng Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Frank Lloyd Wright Hans Poelzig Racine, Wisconsin structure Frankfurt, Germany, 1936-39 c. 1928-31 for his towers, FLW based his dtruc- the ig farben building used a paternoster ture off that of a tree; a structural elevator. the elevator cars are on a linked core (trunk) from which floor slabs “cam system”and rotate together like a water wheel; as one side of the system (branches) would cantilever out from. moves up, the other moves down. the foundation was similar to the root system for which FLW choose a single “tap root” design 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” adam morgan danny sheng Johnson Wax Building I. G. Farben Offices Frank Lloyd Wright Hans Poelzig Racine, Wisconsin other works Frankfurt, Germany, 1936-39 c. 1928-31 the golden beakon and mile high tower, both paper projects, proposed using similar structural systems as the tower of johnson wax building also designed in the inter- national syle unity temple and robie house have simi- Haus des Rundfunks has a lar processional entries as the john- simple geometrc plan with son wax building punched windows and stone cladding, similar to the pyrex tube glazing and banding of ig farbe offices the building’s elements draw from the composition of robie house and its horizontal detailing Haus des Rundfunks berlin 1929 works cited Golden Beacon Tower 1956 Alofsin , Anthony. Prairie skyscraper : Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower . New York: Rizzoli , 2005. Flagge, Ingeborg, and Anna Meseure. Architecture in Germany. Munich: Robie House 1908 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>. Unity Temple McCarter, Robert, James Steele, and Brian Carter. Frank Lloyd Wright . 1908 London: Phaidon, 1999. Mile High Tower 1956 adam morgan danny sheng.