Jonathan Lipman (1)

In the summer of 2015 I amassed many books in a short period of time. Most were used books and many were case studies of buildings I would write about in 100 Years, 100 Buildings. Not surprisingly, given the format of highlighting 100 public or semi-public buildings over the previous 100 years, Frank Lloyd Wright was featured multiple times. Thankfully, his high-profile projects have tended to be examined at book length. One case in point is this book on Johnson Wax in Racine, Wisconsin, where Wright designed a low, spacious administrative building in 1939 and a research tower eleven years later (both are open for tours). Lipman's book was originally published by Rizzoli in 1986, but Dover, which is great at producing affordable, unabridged reproductions, put out this paperback in 2003.

Across twelve chapters Lipman tells the stories of the two buildings' design, construction, and use, as well as how Wright got the commission to begin with and how he furnished the administration building. With Wright's innovative Pyrex tubes and mushroom columns, as well as the code issues with the tower, there are plenty of stories to tell, most through primary sources. They are accompanied by lots of photos and drawings, a must in any architectural case study.… (meer)