Wednesday, January 16, 2008

New York auction Jean Prouvé's Maison tropicale

Next up on the auction block, the Maison Tropicale, a rare midcentury prefab by French designer, Jean Prouvé — one of only three ever built. Shipped all the way from its first home in Congo-Brazzaville, and immaculately restored in Paris, this lightweight steel and aluminum kit-of-parts structure and prefab archetype can be yours for the low, low price of $4 - $6 million! Do we have a bidder?
It was designed in response to a competition launched by General de Gaulle's government in 1947 to find new forms of cheap housing for the French colonies. Prouvé conceived a system whereby simple walls and roof panels of pre-fabricated aluminium could be made at home before being shipped to France's outposts, unpacked and assembled.

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