New Building Brick Model Gives Fans a Hands-on Experience with Company’s Racine Campus
By Brian R. Hannan
Later this summer, admirers of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed SC Johnson Administration Building and Research Tower will be able to bring them home. An Illinois company, The Atom Brick Co., is preparing to launch a 1:350 scale interconnecting brick model.
As with the actual iconic structures, Adam Reed Tucker, the company’s founder, said he based the set on their famed lily pad- and taproot-inspired supports. He used removable roof and wall panels to make the model more “engaging.”
“It’s really understanding the circulation, the structure, the interior spaces and how they relate to one another. You don’t get that unless you’re able to peel off the outer layers and peer inside,” he said. “When you take off the roof and reveal all the columns and colonnades that occur, you feel this place is special.”
Tucker launched Atom Brick in early 2019 after several years with Lego System A/S, where he helped to launch the company’s famed architecture series with popular renditions of Wright’s Fallingwater, Guggenheim Museum and Robie House. Wright designs in Atom Brick’s initial lineup — all licensed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation — included the Darwin D. Martin Housing Complex, Taliesin West and Unity Temple.
Looking ahead, Tucker said he’s working with the foundation to develop sets based on other Wright-designed structures, as well as Wright’s art glass and furniture. The idea, Tucker said, is for Wright properties to sell them in their gift shops and for his company to sell them online, providing “engaging educational gifts in a way that hasn’t quite been offered before.”
More information is available at theatombrick.com.