The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

So, Wright had a coveted commission to build an inspiring workplace...in a neighborhood he did not like. While Wright opened many of his homes to the outside, he designed many of his public buildings to focus on their interior, rather than on their surroundings. He did that with the Administration Building, as he had done 30 years earlier with the Larkin Building in Buffalo and Unity Temple and Meeting House in Oak Park.

Wright's solution for the fenestration of the Administration Building was to design skylights and 47 miles of Pyrex-glass tube clerestory windows surrounding the Great Workroom. The Great Workroom is where most of the office workers would be situated, working under a canopy of trees, the golf-tee shaped dramatic dendriform columns he used to support the building's roof.

There were inner and outer banks of windows, held in place by aluminum racks and wires.

Outer windows, left, and inner ones, right, on east side of the Great Workroom.

Original aluminum racks are used, when possible, above. If they are too weak to continue to use, they are being replaced by new stainless steel racks finished to look like aluminum.

Wright's design could not be matched by the engineering of the day. For example, there was no perfect way to seal the joints between the glass tubes, and they leaked and leaked and leaked. Shades and supplemental lighting were added, too, when it was found that the glare of the sun could be annoying when it shown through the windows at certain angles, or that the building was simply not bright enough for people to work in effectively when the sun was not shining.

In time, the inner layers of windows were replaced by sheets of plastic, molded to mimic the design of the glass tubes. Many of Wright's individual light fixtures, which hung between the outer glass tube windows and the inner bank of sheets of tube-like plastic, were replaced by ordinary fluorescent light fixtures. And, many of the tubes became discolored, in part because of years of leaks.

The fluorescent fixtures are being removed.

The company is in the midst of a $22 million Wright campus maintenance and restoration project to preserve the Administration Building and Wright's adjacent SC Johnson Research Tower. The work includes a window restoration project in the office building.

Clerestory window work, northwest corner of the Administration Building

The outer clerestory windows are being cleaned. Those tubes that cannot be saved are being replaced by new glass tubes. The faded and discolored sheets of plastic, the inner layer of windows, are being replaced by new acrylic sheets which better mimic the original glass tube design. The natural light in the Great Workroom is now much brighter.

The new inner windows better mimic the original glass tubes, above, than the sheets of plastic they are replacing, below.

The company is using rubber gaskets to seal the joints between the tubes. They have been designed for this project, to ensure that the windows will not leak, unlike the caulk that was formerly used. The caulk would harden over time, leading to leaking.

The fluorescent fixtures are being removed, and are being replaced with new energy-efficient lighting that is controlled by the sun. The new shades between the two layers of windows are also controlled by the sun.

Some of the inner window panels that are being replaced show the effects of water leaking.

10 a.m., Friday October 14, 2011: looking at old windows, NE corner

10 a.m. Friday, October 14, 2011: looking at new windows (with shades down), NW corner