Jean Prouvé Oeuvre complète / Complete Works

Norman Foster and Renzo piano invoke his name. For many architects he is a landmark -- Jean Prouve, creator of the metal curtain wall, pioneer in its application and early initiator of industrialised building techniques. His unfailing ability to combine functional engineering achievements with artistic sensitivity commands recognition. The period covered in this latest volume is significant in many respects. The post-war years placed enormous demands on housing and school construction. In his Maxeville factory Prouve developed pre-fabricated housing, facade panelling, light filtering and other systems on a large scale. He worked together with the automobile and aeronautics industry, developing new applications for aluminium, which he presented in the 1954 Aluminium Centenary Pavilion. Moreover, Prouve's furniture designs of this period have become valuable collectors' items, some of which are now being reissued under licence.