Research Tower
The Research Tower was a later addition to the building. Cantilevered from a giant stack, the tower's floor slabs spread out like tree branches, providing for the segmentation of departments vertically. Elevator and stairway channels run up the core of the building. The single reinforced central core, termed by Wright as a tap root, was based on an idea proposed by Wright for the St. Mark's Tower in 1929. Wright recycled the tap root foundation in the Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1952. Freed from peripheral supporting elements, the tower rises gracefully from a garden and three fountain pools that surround its base while a spacious court on three sides provides ample parking for employees.
The Research Tower is no longer in use because of the change in fire safety codes, although the company is committed to preserving the tower as a symbol of its history.
Read more about this topic: Johnson Wax Headquarters
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