The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread
The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread hosted the workshop at their facilities in Racine, Wisconsin from Monday, October 7, 2013 to Wednesday, October 9, 2013. In 1936, Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. (1899-1978) commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new administration building for S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., (also known as Johnson Wax), the family business which has since been renamed SC Johnson, A Family Company. Johnson loved the plan so much he later commissioned Wright to design his new home. Completed in 1939, Wright called the 14,000-foot creation Wingspread, because its four wings embrace the prairie, while the roof over the central Great Hall soars skyward.
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“The building, as architecture, is born out of the heart of man, permanent consort to the ground, comrade to the trees, true reflection of man in the realm of his own spirit.” |
"Interesting things begin to happen. A common vision emerges. A new path is discovered. Alliances are built. Transformational change takes root." |
Wingspread’s primary materials – Kasota limestone, red Streator Brick, tinted stucco and unstained tidewater cypress – anchor the house to the earth, while its many windows and skylights open it to the heavens by admitting air, light and views of the sky and landscape.
On June 24, 1961, the Johnson family formally dedicated Wingspread to The Johnson Foundation to be used as a conference center. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated Wingspread as a National Historic Landmark in 1990. |