JEAN PROUVÉ WAS A FRENCH METAL WORKER, SELF-TAUGHT ARCHITECT AND DESIGNER. LE CORBUSIER DESIGNATED PROUVÉ A CONSTRUCTOR, BLENDING ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING.

PROUVÉ WAS BORN IN NANCY, FRANCE. THE PROUVÉS BELONGED TO A LIVELY ARTISTIC CIRCLE, WHICH INCLUDED THE GLASS ARTIST EMILE GALLÉ, AND THE FURNITURE DESIGNER LOUIS MAJORELLE. PROUVÉ GREW UP SURROUNDED BY THE IDEALS AND ENERGY OF THE ÉCOLE DE NANCY, THE ART COLLECTIVE TO WHICH HIS FATHER BELONGED. 

IN NANCY IN 1923 HE OPENED WHAT WOULD BE THE FIRST IN A STRING OF HIS OWN WORKSHOPS AND STUDIOS. HE PRODUCED WROUGHT IRON LAMPS, CHANDELIERS, HAND RAILS, AND BEGAN DESIGNING FURNITURE LIKE HIS "CHAISE INCLINABLE" OF 1924.

HE OPENED THE SUCCESSFUL "ATELIERS JEAN PROUVÉ" IN 1931.

HE ALSO COLLABORATED WITH CHARLOTTE PERRIAND AND PIERRE JEANNERET ON A VARIETY OF FURNITURE DESIGNS. THE WAR KEPT "ATELIERS" IN BUSNIESS MANUFACTURING BICYCLES. THE POTENTIAL FOR MASS PRODUCTION INSPIRED PROUVÉ TO DEVELOP AND PATENT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS USING FOLDED SHEET METAL FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS.

IN 1947, PROUVÉ BUILT THE MAXÉVILLE FACTORY WHERE HE PRODUCED FURNITURE AND UNDERTOOK EXTENSIVE ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH ON THE USES OF ALUMINUM.

IN THE FEREMBAL DEMOUNTABLE HOUSE (1948), DESIGNED AS THE OFFICES OF THE EPONYMOUS TIN GOODS MANUFACTURER, STEEL PORTAL FRAMES A STRUCTURAL CORE. IN 1949, PROUVÉ AND HIS BROTHER HENRI WON A CONTRACT BY THE MINISTRY OF RECONSTRUCTION AND URBANISM TO BUILD A 14-LOT SUBDIVISION AT MEUDON, JUST OUTSIDE OF PARIS, TO DEMONSTRATE HIS PROTOTYPE LIGHTWEIGHT PREFABRICATED METAL BUILDING SYSTEM. 

PROUVÉ'S STUDIO BUILT INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS FROM ALUMINUM AND SENT HUNDREDS OF ALUMINUM SHEDS TO AFRICA. HE ALSO DESIGNED AN ALUMINUM PREFABRICATED HOUSE, THE MAISON TROPICALE, FOR USE IN AFRICA. THE MAISON TROPICALE WAS DESIGNED TO ADDRESS THE SHORTAGE OF HOSUING AND CIVIC BUILDINGS IN FRANCE'S AFRICAN COLONIES. 

PROUVÉ DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED THREE PROTOTYPES FOR THE MAISON TROPICALE FOR WEST AFRICA BETWEEN 1949 AND 1951. ONE WAS SHIPPED TO NIAMEY, CAPITAL OF NIGERIA, AND TWO BRAZZAVILLE, THE THEN CAPITAL OF THE FRENCH COLONY OF MIDDLE CONGO. THE TWO THAT WENT TO BRAZZAVILLE WERE ASSEMBLED ON THE SAME PROPERTY - ONE AS THE HOUSE AND THE OTHER AS AN OFFICE FOR A FRENCH COMPANY THAT SOLD ALUMINUM PRODUCTS, INCLUDING PROUVÉ STRUCTURES. ONE OF THE BRAZZAVILLE STRUCTURES AND THE HOUSE IN NIAMEY WERE EVENTUALLY DISASSEMBLED AND SHIPPED BACK TO PARIS. THE SECOND, LARGER BRAZZAVILLE HOUSE WAS MADE FROM FOLDED SHEET STEEL AND ALUMINUM. FOR EASE OF TRANSPORT, ALL OF THE PARTS WERE FLAT, LIGHTWEIGHT, AND COULD BE NEATLY PACKED INTO A CARGO PLANE. 

PROUVÉ'S BUSINESS FAILED IN 1952, ALTHOUGH LE CORBUSIER, ONE OF HIS EARLY CLIENTS, CONTINUED TO CONSULT HIM ON TECHNICAL MATTERS. AFTER MAXÉVILLE, HE STARTED "CONSTRUCTIONS JEAN PROUVÉ." IN 1953, HE DESIGNER THE FACADE OF THE RESTAURANT OF THE HOTEL DE GRANCE IN CONAKRY, GUINEA, CONSISTING OF SHUTTERS THAT PIVOTED AND OPENED ON THE SEA. WHEN CLERGYMAN ABBÉ PIERRE MADE AN APPEAL FOR DONATIONS TO BUILD EMERGENCY HOUSING FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE DURING THE WINTER OF 1954, PROUVÉ DESIGNED THE "MAISON DES JOURS MEILLEURS" (A HOUSE FOR BETTER DAYS); MEASURING 57 SQUARE METERS, WITH TWO BEDROOMS, AND A LARGE LIVING AREA, A FEW MEN EQUIPPED WITH SOME TOOLS COULD BUILD THE HOUSE IN SEVEN HOURS. PROUVÉ'S RESPONSE TO A 1956 COMMISSION FOR A SCHOOLHOUSE THAT COULD EASILY BE DISMANTLED AND RELOCATED, THE ASYMMETRICAL VILLEJUIF DEMOUNTABLE HOUSE (1956) IS A LIGHTWEIGHT PROJECT WHOSE SHEET-STEEL PROPS SUPPORT A CANTILEVERED WOODEN ROOF. THE SCHOOL WAS LATER DISASSEMBLED AND ITS COMPONENTS ARE NOW USED IN OTHER BUILDINGS.

THE METAL FURNITURE OF JEAN PROUVÉ WAS PRODUCED COPIOUSLY IN EVERY STUDIO AND WORKSHOP. HIS WORK INVOLVED FREQUENT COLLABORATION, MOST FAMOUSLY WITH CHARLOTTE PERRIAND PIERRE JEANNERET. THE STYLE IS SET APART FROM THE BAUHAUS STEEL FURNITURE OF THE TIME BY HIS REJECTION OF THE STEEL TUBE TECHNIQUE. PROUVÉ HAD MORE FAITH IN THE DURABILITY AND FORM OF SHEET METAL, "BENT PRESSED, MORE COMPRESSED THAN WELDED." HIS DESIGNS SPEAK OF A WORK PHILOSOPHY THAT INCLUDES KNOWLEDGE OF THE MATERIALS AT HAND, A COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATION BETWEEN ARTISTS AND CRAFTSMEN, AN ATTENTION TO EVOLVING TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS, AND "THE PRINCIPLE OF NEVER POSTPONING DECISIONS SO AS NEITHER TO LOSE THE IMPETUS NOR INDULGE IN UNREALISTIC FORECASTS." PROUVÉ WAS INFLUENTIAL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA OF NOMADIC ARCHITECTURE, LIKENING A CHAIR TO A HOUSE, AND DESIGNING BOTH WITH PORTABILITY IN MIND.

IN 1957, PROUVÉ STARTED THE INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT COMPANY AND BUILT THE ROTTERDAM MEDICAL SCHOOL, THE EXHIBITION CENTER IN GRENOBLE AND THE ORLY AIRWAYS TERMINAL FAÇADE. IN 1958, HE COLLABORATED ON THE DESIGN OF LA MAISON DU SAHARA, A MODERN PROTOTYPE OF A HOUSE BUILT FOR EXTREME CLIMATE CONDITIONS. BETWEEN 1952 AND 1962, HE COLLABORATED WITH JEAN DIMITRIJEVIC ON THE MUSÉE DES BEAUX ARTS DU HAVRE, A GLASS, STEEL, AND ALUMINUM STRUCTURE THAT RECEIVED THE PRIX REYNOLDS IN 1962. IN 1958, PROUVÉ COLLABORATED WITH SCULPTOR, ALEXANDER CALDER, TO CONSTRUCT THE STEEL BASE OF LA SPIRALE, A MONUMENTAL MOBILE FOR THE UNESCO SITE IN PARIS. CALDER LATER GAVE PROUVÉ TWO MOBILES - AS WELL AS A GOUACHE WITH A DEDICATION. FROM 1957 TO 1970, PROUVÉ LECTURED AT THE CONSERVATOIRE DES ARTS ET MÉTIERS IN PARIS. THE MOST AMBITIOUS PROJECT HE WORKED ON DURING THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE WAS THE BUILDING FOR THE MINISTÈRE DE L'ÉDUCATION NATIONALE (1970), A METAL SKYSCRAPER DESIGNED AROUND A VAST INTERNAL PATIO, WHICH WAS TO BE BUILT AT LA DÉFENSE. IN 1971, PROUVÉ WAS THE PRESIDENT OF OF THE JURY FOR DESIGN OF THE CENTRE POMPIDOU IN PARIS. ALONG WITH FELLOW JURY MEMBER, PHILIP JOHNSON, HE PLAYED A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE FOR THE CHOICE OF THE WINNING PROJECT BY RICHARD ROGERS AND RENZO PIANO.