Demountable House, 1944

- J E A N  P R O U V E  C O L L E C T I O N -

After the end of the Second World War, Jean Prouvé was commissioned by the French government to design pavilions that would supply temporary accommodation for displaced war victims in Lorraine and Franche-Comté. Fine-tuning his already patented axial portal system, he sought to provide a quick, economical and adaptable solution to this pressing problem.

He divided the area of 36 m² prescribed by the French Ministry of Reconstruction - later increased to 54 m² - into three rooms that would be immediately habitable on the day of construction. Assembled from prefabricated, lightweight metal and wooden elements, the homes were designed to be rapidly installed in bomb-devastated areas, and then dismantled and relocated as needed. Steel was in short supply at the time, so only the load-bearing structure and wall framework were made of bent sheet steel. Simple, standardised wooden panels were slotted into the latter, with the roof cover consisting of bitumen-coated roofing felt. Prouvé devised the structural principle to allow subsequent modification with stronger and heavier materials in the case of a more permanent construction.

Jean Prouvé

Jean Prouvé completed his training as a metal artisan before opening his own workshop in Nancy in 1924. In the following years he created numerous furniture designs, and in 1947 Prouvé established his own factory. Due to disagreements with the majority shareholders, he left the company in 1953. During the ensuing decades, Prouvé served as a consulting engineer on a number of important architectural projects in Paris. Prouvé's work encompasses a wide range of objects, from a letter opener to door and window fittings, from lighting and furniture to façade elements and prefabricated houses, from modular building systems to large exhibition structures – essentially, almost anything that is suited to industrial production methods. In close cooperation with the Prouvé family, Vitra began in 2002 to issue re-editions of designs by this great French constructeur.

Shop the look

Footnotes: 
Text and Images: vitra (c)