JEAN PROUVÉ 8×8 DEMOUNTABLE HOUSE, 1944 – VOL. 2

Since its opening in 1989 Galerie Patrick Seguin has been building a collection of Jean Prouvé demountable houses that is today the largest in the world. With 19 of these structures ranging from 172 to 2054 sq. ft., the gallery has worked strenuously to promote Jean Prouvé’s architecture through numerous exhibitions and fairs throughout the world, including at the MoMa in New York, DesignMiamiBasel/, the Venice Biennale, and the Pinacoteca Govanni e Marella Agnelli in Turin.
Accompanying its exhibitions, Galerie Patrick Seguin has also developed an editorial line of comprehensive publications and is currently releasing a set of 5 monographs dedicated to Jean Prouvé’s demountable architecture, illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs.
These 5 volumes are the first of 15 that will be released in 3 separate boxed sets over the course of 2015 and 2016.

8×8 Demountable House – Continuing his research into demountable houses, in 1938 Jean Prouvé came up with the structural principle of the axial portal frame, which he patented the following year. He decided to apply it to a module 8 meters (26.2 ft) wide to adapt the construction methods to family housing in an area of 64 square meters (689 square feet) per module. The load-bearing structure that included improvements to provide greater comfort was made entirely of bent sheet steel.