The S.C.

Johnson Wax Building

Structural Analysis
The Great Workroom 8 Research Tower
ARC 631 Fall 2002
Nicole Bienkowski, Nicholas Jung, Eddie Naestri, Reyna Nasters
Wax Fax
Architect:
Frank Lloyd Wright
Location:
Racine, Wisconsin
Construction Date:
1936-1939 8 19+7
Building Type:
Office 8 Research
Construction System:
Pre-cast Concrete
Brick
The Great Workroom
Research Tower
120'
2
0
0
'
Columns 20' O.C.
+0'
+0'
The Great Workroom
Wright designed this grid of columns to create a garden within the building. He
used the metaphor of a flower in their design and description. These
revolutionary columns were designed without any structural calculations. The
stem and petal" system incorporated a tapering shaft, a hollow core, and
expanded steel mesh. The concrete used cured with strengths over 7,000 psi.
The column system acts like a continuous rigid frame structure hinged at the
column foot. Each column supports +00 s.f. of roof load plus any additional live
loads such as snow. Wright estimated that each would need to support 12 tons.
12 ton uniform load
9" diameter base
18'-6" diameter disc
2
5
'

c
o
l
u
m
n

h
e
i
g
h
t
The innovative column design was not without strong criticism. The Wisconsin
State Building Commission did not believe that the column would support 5 tons
let alone the 12 tons called for on the plans. A public test was conducted.
The Research Tower
The research tower was the second phase of the project that started eight
years after the administration building was complete. The tower is
essentially a fourteen floor cantilevered building. The tower was taller than
any building he had built to date"(Carter,33). As with the administration
building, Wright considered the buildings to be organic architecture. He also
compared the tower's structure to be flower like, consisting of a deep-root"
stem and tapering petal" floor slabs.
Central core:
Fourteen foot wide
Circulation, Services,
Utilities
Reinforced concrete
walls 7"-10" thick
Cantilevered floors:
Forty foot wide
Reinforced steel
sheets and bars
Hollow floor slabs for
pipe work and conduit
Pyrex glass
tubing
Plate glass
inner wall
Stone
Brick
Cantilevered
floor
vertical Loading
Stepping pattern: distribute loads outside
to inside
Central core: receives greatest load
Cantilevered floors: tapered and mimics
stepping pattern load distribution
1
7
'
-
6
"
33 ' "petal"
3
5
'
-
0
"
40' "petal"
1
7
0
'
-
3
"
1+'
Lateral Loading
Free standing structure
Foundation resists wind 8 earthquakes
No formwork in stem" so concrete could
bond with soil
19' stem"
3
5
'
-
0
"
1
7
0
'
-
3
"
1+'
force
force
quake
wind