很巧，月前與羅文森學長認識，讀了幾本他寫的回憶錄： 《戀戀九號宿舍》《當機會被我遇見》《難以忘懷的大學生活》(暫)《神州行》(暫)...
巧的是，這篇A Corporate Paean to Frank Lloyd Wright指的是/S.C.Johnson(庄臣)公司---羅學長的博士後服務的公司，所以有70-80年代第一手的國際各分公司的服務經驗.......
所以除了到官方網站:
SC Johnson: A Family Company | Innovative Cleaning ...
www.scjohnson.com/
這篇可能也可讓羅學長大開眼界。
A Corporate Paean to Frank Lloyd Wright
By ROBERT SHAROFF June 10, 2014
This week a portion of the Research Tower designed by Frank Lloyd Wright at the headquarters of S.C. Johnson in Racine, Wis., will reopen as a museum. The project is part of an eight-year effort by the company to restore its Wright campus.
If anything is eternal in real estate, it is the dance of desire that exists between chief executives and their architects.
Corporate executives tend to obsess over the bottom line while longing to erect a brick and mortar legacy. Architects — particularly the visionary variety — see every job as a way to explore new design concepts and materials.
In 1943, Herbert F. Johnson Jr., the third-generation leader of S. C. Johnson, which has its headquarters here in Racine, tangled in just that way with Frank Lloyd Wright. While Wright’s design for the company’s executive offices, the Administration Building, had been rapturously received, Mr. Johnson grew wary of enlisting Wright for a second project, an adjacent research facility.
“To be frank, Frank,” Mr. Johnson, who was known as Hib, wrote in a letter to Wright, “we simply will not consider a financial and construction nightmare like the office building.”
Wright, then 76 and in the midst of one of his periodic career resurgences, turned on the charm. “You aren’t losing your good hunches are you, Hib?” he responded. “The ones that made you what you are today?”
Being Wright, he also could not resist a dig at the preliminary plans Mr. Johnson had included with his note.
“The plan your department made is like all plans made by departmental minds,” he said. “Just a little hole for the little cat and a big hole for the big cat.”
Eventually — and not for the last time — the big cat succumbed to Wright’s entreaties, paving the way for the Research Tower, which would prove to be one of the architect’s most unusual structures.
Mr. Johnson has overseen much of the restoration of the company’s Wright buildings and hopes to build on their lure. This week, a small piece of the Research Tower, also designed by Mr. Wright, will reopen as a museum. The tower, a detail of which is shown, was finished in 1950 and includes seven two-level stories. The floors are cantilevered off a concrete core sunk 50 feet into the ground.
William Zbaren for The New York Times
This week, after 30-odd years of being shuttered, a small piece of the Research Tower will reopen as a museum that recreates down to the last test tube the way the building functioned during its heyday in the 1950s. The project is one of the final pieces of an eight-year, $30 million effort the company has undertaken to restore its landmark Wright campus.
Herbert Fisk Johnson III, current chief executive of S. C. Johnson and grandson of Hib, who died in 1978, has overseen much of the restoration and hopes to build on the lure of the Wright buildings, which draw tourists to Racine weekend after weekend.
The correspondence between his grandfather and Wright, which Mr. Johnson said had not been published before, provides a glimpse into how difficult it could be for Wright to attain his vision. In an email interview, Mr. Johnson, known as Fisk, described their relationship as “love-hate.”
“The Administration Building was so over budget — it was close to half the net worth of the entire company when it was done,” he said. “My grandfather appreciated the genius and the beauty of the creation, but was embarrassed by how much it cost.”
With its meticulous brickwork, custom furniture and fixtures, as well as the sky-lit Great Work Room that creates the uncanny sensation of being at the bottom of an enormous lily pond, the Administration Building — completed in 1939 — is generally regarded as one of Wright’s signal achievements. The total cost was just under $3 million (roughly $50 million today).
While more modest, the Research Tower, finished in 1950, includes seven two-level stories, each of which contains a floating mezzanine. The floors are cantilevered off a concrete core sunk 50 feet into the ground that Wright compared to a tree root. The core also contains a narrow staircase that, with a small circular elevator, is the only way to move between floors. Total square footage is about 20,000.
The ribbon windows consist of tiers of Pyrex glass tubes, essentially oversize versions of the ones used in laboratories like those in the Research Tower.
Brady Roberts, chief curator of the Milwaukee Art Museum, calls the tower “the closest thing to a built work of 20th-century utopian architecture that you will ever find.”
Brendan Gill, Wright’s biographer, remarked, “Like so many of Wright’s works, the Research Tower succeeds as an aesthetic object, but from the beginning presented an almost endless series of difficulties.”
That it did. The fixed and unshaded Pyrex tube windows made temperature control difficult in the summer. Wright also resisted installing sprinklers in a building where open-flame experiments were often underway, on the grounds that they were unsightly. The sprinklers eventually were installed.
Still, for the next 30 years, the Research Tower functioned as the R&D heart of S. C. Johnson, which was founded in 1886 and is the manufacturer of household products like Windex, Pledge and Raid.
Cary E. Manderfield, director of research and development for the company, remembers working in the tower just before it was taken out of service in the early 1980s.
“It was a great place to do research,” Mr. Manderfield said. “Just a few hops up or down the stairs and you could collaborate with a colleague, learn what you needed to learn to do an experiment or borrow a piece of lab equipment or a chemical. A lot of very good science came out of the tower.”
In 1982, the Research Tower was officially retired; it had not been repurposed because of concerns that upgrading to meet building code standards could have compromised its architectural integrity.
“The tower is an incredible jewel and I wanted to share it with the world,” Mr. Johnson said.
An enclosed glass-tube bridge connects the Research Tower and the Administration Building.
William Zbaren for The New York Times
Almost from the beginning, the 35-acre S. C. Johnson campus has functioned as a part-time tourist attraction for Racine, a 19th-century industrial city about 75 miles north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Besides the Wright structures, the campus includes two other architectural gems.
The first is the Golden Rondelle Theater, which was the S. C. Johnson Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. After the fair, it was disassembled and moved here. Supposedly modeled on a Wright church, it functions today as an auditorium and visitor center.
Then, four years ago, the company commissioned Norman Foster, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, to design Fortaleza Hall, which commemorates an expedition Hib Johnson made to the jungles of Brazil in the 1930s in search of a new source for the company’s main product, floor wax.
Fortaleza Hall also includes galleries where the company stages exhibitions about Wright’s career. The current show, “At Home With Frank Lloyd Wright,” examines three of his residences — the two Taliesin compounds, in Spring Green, Wis., and Scottsdale, Ariz., and a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York that he occupied and modified while designing the Guggenheim Museum.
The exhibitions are co-curated by Mr. Roberts of the Milwaukee Art Museum and Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, chief archivist of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale.
S. C. Johnson offers free tours of its campus on summer Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and receives about 9,000 visitors a year. Mr. Johnson hopes to triple that number with the addition of the Research Tower and regular exhibitions.
Half a century after Wright’s death in 1959, the phenomenon of Frank Lloyd Wright tourism continues to expand in the Midwest. One of the newer attractions is the 19-story Price Tower in Bartlesville, Okla., which was completed in 1956. That and the Research Tower are Wright’s only extant high-rise buildings.
The Price Tower was built for the H. C. Price Company, an oil and gas pipeline construction firm. It was sold to Phillips Petroleum in 1981 and, in 2000, was donated to a nonprofit organization that has transformed it into the Price Tower Arts Center. Restored in 2004, it contains a hotel, restaurant, galleries and office space, and attracts 30,000 visitors a year.
“We are the most iconic building in town,” said Timothy L. Boruff, executive director of the center.
Though Wright was born in Wisconsin, the epicenter of Wright tourism is undoubtedly Oak Park, Ill., where he lived and worked during the early years of his career. It is the home of more than two dozen Wright buildings and numerous others by his Prairie School disciples and acolytes.
Back in Racine, Mr. Johnson is contemplating his own legacy. Over the years, he says, various financial executives have contended that the company would be better off moving to more modern quarters.
Mr. Johnson is not buying it. “My grandfather made incredibly bold decisions, one of which was to build these buildings in spite of the cost,” he said. “For me, they are a visual reminder of those decisions and of the importance of being bold when leading this enterprise. We are committed to keeping Wright’s vision intact.”
日化可能是中國稱呼日常使用的化學品。
日化巨頭守護建築大師賴特傑作
建築2014年06月10日
如果說，在房地產行業里有什麼事情是永恆的，那就是企業總裁及其建築師之間的鬥智斗勇了。
企業高管總是糾結於盈虧利潤，但又想留下一些實實在在的建築遺產。而建築師——尤其是有遠見卓識的那類，則將每份工作視為一次探索全新設計理念和材料的機會。
庄臣公司(S.C.Johnson)是總部設在威斯康星州的拉辛(Racine)的家庭清潔用品公司，小赫伯特·F·庄臣(Herbert F. Johnson Jr.)是其第三代傳人。1943年，他正像前文所說的那樣，和建築師弗蘭克·勞埃德·賴特(Frank Lloyd Wright)進行了一番鬥智斗勇。雖然賴特為庄臣行政大樓(Administration Building)做的設計獲得了極佳反響，庄臣卻不敢聘請他設計第二個項目，即緊鄰行政大樓的研究設施。
「老實說，弗蘭克，」人稱希伯(Hib)的庄臣在給賴特的一封信中寫道，「像行政大樓那種設計方案，無論在經費上還是在施工上，都是一場噩夢，我們根本不會再考慮了。」
賴特當時雖已是76歲高齡，但正處於設計生涯的又一個巔峰期。收到庄臣的來信，他開始施展自己的人格魅力。「你的直覺應該還沒有退化吧，希伯？」他回復道，「你所以能有今天的成就，直覺不是有很大功勞嗎？」
賴特到底是賴特，除了施展個人魅力外，他還忍不住對庄臣隨信附上的設計初稿做了一番評論。
「你的部門搞出來的這份設計，根本沒什麼想像力，」他寫道，「就是小人物配小房間，大人物配大房間罷了。」
最終（其實這還不是最後一次），這位「大人物」在賴特的軟磨硬泡下鬆了口，為研究大樓(Research Tower)的建設鋪平了道路。日後證明，這是賴特最傑出的作品之一。
同為賴特設計的庄臣研究大樓的一小部分，將作為博物館重新向公眾開放。
William Zbaren for The New York Times
研究大樓目前已經停用了30多年。本周（4月30日當周——譯註），它的一小部分將作為博物館重新向公眾開放，力圖全方位重現它在20世紀50年代的巔峰狀態。該項目屬於一個為期八年、耗資3000萬美元（約合人民幣2億元）的工程，是該工程的收尾部分。公司的目的是要重建其地標式的賴特園區。
赫伯特·菲斯克·庄臣三世(Herbert Fisk Johnson III)是庄臣公司的現任首席執行官，也是逝世於1978年的希伯的孫子。菲斯克親自監督了大部分修繕工作，以期保留賴特建築原有的風貌。正是這些建築吸引了源源不斷的遊客來到拉辛。
據庄臣說，他祖父與賴特的通信此前從未公諸於眾過，從這次公布的信件中，我們可以看出，要將賴特的想像力付諸實踐，有多麼困難。在一次電子郵件採訪中，庄臣——也就是菲斯克，在談到他祖父與賴特的關係時，用了「愛恨交加」這個詞。
「建造行政大樓的花銷遠遠超出預算——完工時的總開支接近公司凈資產的一半，」他寫道，「我祖父能夠欣賞這項設計的天才之處和美感，可是巨大的開支也讓他大跌眼鏡。」
精細的磚砌工程、定製的傢具及設施、有天窗照明的大工作室(Great Work Room)——這些設計營造出一種奇妙的氛圍，讓人感覺就像置身於巨型荷花池的池底一般。行政大樓竣工於1939年，被視為賴特的標誌性作品之一。工程總造價接近300萬美元（大致相當於今天的5000萬美元，約合人民幣3億元）。
相比行政大樓，1950年完工的研究大樓沒有那麼奢華。它由七座雙層小樓構成，每座小樓中有一個空中夾層。不同的樓層由一根打入地下50英尺、被賴特比作樹根的混凝土核心樁連接起來。核心樁內還有一座狹窄的樓梯，和一台小型圓形電梯，這是各樓層之間唯一的通道。研究大樓的總面積達2萬平方英尺（約合1858平方米）。
建築的帶狀窗所用的材料，是多層耐熱玻璃管，實質上就是樓內實驗室里用的那種耐熱玻璃管的超大版。
密爾沃基藝術博物館(Milwaukee Art Museum)的總策展人布拉迪·羅伯茨(Brady Roberts)把這座大樓稱為「你能找到的、最接近20世紀烏托邦建築的作品」。
賴特的傳記作者布倫丹·吉爾(Brendan Gill)評論說，「和賴特的眾多作品一樣，研究大樓是一件成功的美學作品，但是它從一開始就要面對數不清的困難。」
事實的確如此。由於耐熱玻璃管製成的窗戶是固定的，而且毫無遮擋，一到夏天，室內的溫度就會變得難以控制。雖然樓內經常要進行明火實驗，但賴特依然拒絕安裝洒水滅火器，理由是影響美觀。不過洒水滅火器最終還是裝上了。
儘管如此，在接下來的30年里，研究大樓一直是庄臣公司的研發中心。庄臣創立於1886年，該公司生產的家庭清潔用品包括Windex清潔劑、碧麗珠傢具光亮劑(Pledge)、雷達殺蟲劑(Raid)等。
加里·E·曼德菲爾德(Cary E. Manderfield)是庄臣公司的研發總監。研究大樓於20世紀80年代初停用之前，他曾在那裡工作。他回憶了當時的光景。
「那是個做研究的好地方，」曼德菲爾德回憶道，「你只需要上下樓梯，走幾步路，就可以找同事合作，學習做實驗的技巧，借點實驗儀器或者化學試劑什麼的。那裡誕生了很多非常棒的科研成果。」
1982年，研究大樓正式停用。之所以一直沒有重新啟用，是因為公司擔心，一旦按照建築規範對它進行升級改造，可能會破壞它的建築完整性。
「這座大樓是件不可思議的珍寶，我希望與全世界一起分享它。」庄臣說。
一個封閉的玻璃管橋樑，連接着研究大樓和行政大樓。
William Zbaren for The New York Times
幾乎從一開始，佔地35英畝（約合14.2公頃）的庄臣公司園區就是拉辛的一個旅遊景點。拉辛在19世紀時是座工業城市，坐落在密歇根湖畔，地處芝加哥以北75英里（約合121公里）。除了賴特設計的建築外，園區內還有另外兩座建築珍品。
Golden Rondelle劇院就是其中之一，它曾是庄臣公司在1964年紐約世界博覽會上的展館。世博會結束後，它被拆解運回並重新組裝。其建築藍本據說是賴特設計的一座教堂。如今，它的用途是一座禮堂和遊客服務中心。
四年前，庄臣公司聘請普利茲克建築獎(Pritzker Architecture Prize)得主諾曼·福士特(Norman Foster)設計了福塔雷薩大廳(Fortaleza Hall)，以紀念20世紀30年代希伯·庄臣前往巴西叢林的考察活動。考察的目的，是為地板蠟這個公司主打產品尋找新的原料源。
福塔雷薩大廳還包括幾間畫廊，庄臣公司在這裡舉辦有關賴特職業生涯的展覽。當前的展覽主題為「弗蘭克·勞埃德·賴特之家」(At Home With Frank Lloyd Wright)，該展覽審視的是賴特的三處住宅，它們是：兩座分別位於威斯康星州春綠村(Spring Green)和亞利桑那州斯科茨代爾(Scottsdale)、名為「塔里耶森」(Taliesin)的建築；以及紐約廣場飯店(Plaza Hotel)的一個套間。賴特在設計古根海姆博物館(Guggenheim Museum)時曾入住並改建過這個套間。
這些展覽，是密爾沃基藝術博物館的羅伯茨聯同弗蘭克·勞埃德·賴特基金會的首席檔案管理員布魯斯·布魯克斯·菲佛(Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer)共同策劃的。弗蘭克·勞埃德·賴特基金會位於斯科茨代爾(Scottsdale)。
庄臣公司每年夏天的周五到周日都會免費開放，每年接待遊客9000人次。庄臣希望通過修繕研究大樓、定期舉辦展覽，使遊客的數量增加兩倍。
賴特逝世於1959年。如今，半個世紀過去了，關於賴特的「朝聖」之旅，正在美國中西部持續鋪開。一個較新的旅遊景點是19層的普萊斯大樓(Price Tower)，位於俄克拉荷馬的巴特爾斯維爾(Bartlesville)，竣工於1956年。普萊斯大樓和研究大樓是賴特僅存的兩座高層建築作品。
普萊斯大樓是為H.C.Price石油與天然氣管道建築公司建的。1981年，普萊斯大樓被菲利普斯石油公司(Phillips Petroleum)收購，又於2000年被捐贈給一家非盈利機構，隨後改建為普萊斯大樓藝術中心(Price Tower Arts Center)。經過2004年的翻修，樓內現有一家賓館，還有餐廳、畫廊和辦公區，每年吸引遊客3萬人次。
藝術中心的執行董事蒂莫西·L·博魯夫(Timothy L. Boruff)說：「普萊斯大樓是城裡最具標誌性的建築物。」
儘管賴特出生於威斯康星州(Wisconsin)，但是朝聖者雲集的中心地帶，無疑是伊利諾伊州的橡樹園(Oak Park)。賴特在職業生涯的早期曾在那裡生活和工作。那裡有20多座建築出自他的手筆，他在「草原學派」(Prairie School)的弟子和信徒，也在當地留下了大量建築作品。
回到拉辛的話題。庄臣正尋思着留下屬於自己的建築遺產。他說，多年來，很多財務管理人員都勸他把公司搬到更加現代的地方，他們認為這會使公司的經營狀況得到改善。
但庄臣並不買賬。「我爺爺老是做一些特別大膽的決定，比如，他會不計成本地打造這些建築作品，」他說，「對我來說，這些建築物會讓我想起爺爺所做的決定，提醒我要做一個有魄力的企業領導者。我們有責任原樣保護賴特的視覺遺產。」
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