One of the wonderful things about the recently-opened Chicago Architecture Biennial is that it encourages visitors to leave the exhibition itself. From films to lectures to public kiosks, it's truly a regional event.
By far the furthest afield of these offerings - and definitely one of the most memorable - are the free trips to visit the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright-designed headquarters of SC Johnson in Racine, Wisconsin. The complex is about an hour and a half drive from Chicago.
Long before Apple and Google hired Norman Foster and Bjarke Ingels to build sexy campuses in Silicon Valley, H.F. Johnson Jr. hired Wright to build his Administration Building (1939) and Research Tower (1950), which remain two of the most innovative, and important office buildings in the history of modern architecture. 'I wanted to build the best office building in the world, and the only way to do that was to get the greatest architect in the world,' Johnson explained at the time.
The Research Tower, renovated in 2013, was opened to the public for the first time last year. Its 15 floors all cantilever off a central core, which extends more than 50 feet into the ground. The research spaces are skinned with 'Cherokee Red' bricks, and more than 7,000 Pyrex glass tubes. The development site of ubiquitous products like Glade, Pledge, and Raid, the tower contains original lab equipment, amazing architectural drawings, and correspondence between Wright and Johnson.
The curvaceous, horizontally-oriented Administration Building, also naturally lit with Pyrex glass tubing, is famous for its Great Workroom's amazing 'mushroom' columns, with their 9 inch diameter bases and 18.5 foot diameter tops. Wright convinced authorities to allow the unusual structures by stacking several tons of sandbags on top of them prior to construction. He (or course) designed all the furniture in the building (including the tippy three legged chairs), as well as its brass 'bird cage' elevators. It's the only working Frank Lloyd Wright office in the world.
Speaking of Norman Foster, on the tour you'll visit his Fortaleza Hall, which opened in 2010. The building includes a sweeping glass atrium containing exhibits about the building and company, and The Commons, (fronted by a Patrick Blanc green wall) which provides employee amenities. The tour also takes visitors to Wingspread, the Wright-designed, pinwheel-planned home for H.F. Johnson Jr., and to the spaceship-like Golden Rondelle Theater (not designed by Wright), which was shipped to Racine after the 1964 New York World's Fair.
On display at the SC Johnson Gallery is the Wasmuth Portfolio, which features almost 50 gorgeous lithographs and artifacts from Wright's most famous book. SC Johnson is also hosting three lectures and two films associated with the Biennial as well as its first-ever 'Wright at Night' tours on Thursdays.
Clerks working in the Great Workroom of the Administration Building in the 1940s
...and the Great Workroom in the 1980s
HF Johnson, Jr. sits with Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentice, Wes Peters, during the weight testing of a dendriform column for the SC Johnson Administration Building in 1937. The column needed to hold 12 tons of weight in order to be used in the building design. The test stopped after the column withstood 5 times that weight.
The Golden Rondelle Theatre was built for the 1964/1965 Worlds Fair in New York. It has been in Racine since 1968, showing visitors various SC Johnson-commissioned films like "Living Planet" and the Academy Award-Winning "To Be Alive!"
The Fortaleza Hall, designed by Foster + Partners in 2010, is also part of the SC Johnson campus in Racine
-
Year in review: the shape of mobility to come in our list of the top 10 concept cars of 2025Concept cars remain hugely popular ways to stoke interest in innovation and future forms. Here are our ten best conceptual visions from 2025
-
These Guadalajara architects mix modernism with traditional local materials and craftGuadalajara architects Laura Barba and Luis Aurelio of Barbapiña Arquitectos design drawing on the past to imagine the future
-
Robert Therrien's largest-ever museum show in Los Angeles is enduringly appealing'This is a Story' at The Broad unites 120 of Robert Therrien's sculptures, paintings and works on paper
-
These Christmas cards sent by 20th-century architects tell their own storiesHandcrafted holiday greetings reveal the personal side of architecture and design legends such as Charles and Ray Eames, Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
-
Take a tour of the 'architectural kingdom' of JapanJapan's Seto Inland Sea offers some of the finest architecture in the country – we tour its rich selection of contemporary buildings by some of the industry's biggest names
-
Step inside this resilient, river-facing cabin for a life with ‘less stuff’A tough little cabin designed by architects Wittman Estes, with a big view of the Pacific Northwest's Wenatchee River, is the perfect cosy retreat
-
Remembering Robert A.M. Stern, an architect who discovered possibility in the pastIt's easy to dismiss the late architect as a traditionalist. But Stern was, in fact, a design rebel whose buildings were as distinctly grand and buttoned-up as his chalk-striped suits
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism – is for sale in Los AngelesAfter 65 years in the hands of the same family, the home, also known as Case Study House #22, has been listed for $25 million
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi designed a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fountainhead will be opened to the public for the first timeThe home, a defining example of the architect’s vision for American design, has been acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art, which will open it to the public, giving visitors the chance to experience Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius firsthand
