It is not uncommon to hear a company say it wants to mix the old with the new in its facilities, but the new Waxbird Commons on S.C. Johnson’s Racine campus takes the adage to new heights.
Enter the modern lobby and you’re greeted by the building’s namesake airplane, which was purchased by the company in 1929 and was used on promotional tours to help grow the company. Go around the corner and you will find a modern art gallery amongst timbers from S.C. Johnson manufacturing facilities. At the end of the hall, a digital screen highlights the company’s efforts to reduce plastic waste in oceans while advertising from the 1940s and ‘50s is displayed across the hall and a mural depicting the company’s founder reviewing products from over the years is nearby.
Beyond highlighting the past, Waxbird Commons has a function, with around 120 conference rooms. Large glass doors on one set of meeting rooms can open to create a larger event space while former loading dock doors now open to collaborative meeting spaces.
Waxbird Commons also has a sustainability component, with a geothermal exchange helping save energy on heating and cooling, more than 500 solar panels on the roof, recycled plastic film in the parking lot asphalt and 100,000 bricks and more than 500 timbers salvaged from other buildings.
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Owner/developer: S.C. Johnson
Architect: Gensler
Costs: Undisclosed
Year Completed: June 2021
