precious dwelling: Jean Prouvé’s Tropical House

I just learnd that one of my favourite architects and designers Jean Prouvé (1901 - 1984) was one of the first who experimented with prefab houses and actually constructed one called The Tropical House in 1949. Perfect for me to write another post about precious dwellings – in the truest sense of the word: one house of only three ever built was just sold for 5 million dollars to hotelier André Balazs who plans to install the little mansion at a new resort hotel he’s developing somewhere in the caribian.. damn.. i think this building belongs in a museum. At least it will return to the tropics! But anyway, this is what the UCLA Hammer Museum (see also for more pictures), who was exhibiting another one of the three houses, writes about the prefab house:

Prouvé designed the Tropical House in 1949 as a prototype for inexpensive, readily assembled housing that could be easily transported to France’s African colonies. Fabricated in Prouvé’s French workshops, the components for the house were completed in 1951 and were flown disassembled to Africa in the cargo hold of an airplane. The house was erected in the town of Brazzaville, Congo, where it remained for nearly 50 years. In 1999, the Tropical House was disassembled and shipped back to France for restoration.