THE HAMMER MUSEUM PRESENTS OUTDOOR INSTALLATION OF A SEMINAL HOUSE DESIGNED BY JEAN PROUVÉ
The Tropical House will be installed in the Hammer Museum courtyard during October and November 2005, providing an unprecedented opportunity to study this influential designer’s early prototype of prefabricated housing first-hand
August 3
Los Angeles, CA—A prefabricated metal house conceived and constructed by French designer Jean Prouvé, known as the Tropical House, will be installed in the Hammer Museum courtyard during October and November 2005. Installation of Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House will begin on October 4, and deinstallation will begin on November 27, 2005. The installation and deinstallation periods will last for approximately two weeks and are integral aspects of the display, allowing the public to observe, first-hand, Prouvé’s notions of prefabricated architecture in practice.
Jean Prouvé is widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant European designers of the 20th century, recognized for his pioneering use of industrial materials and new technologies. Prouvé’s innovative designs range from household and commercial furnishings to residential homes and industrial buildings including many influential experiments in prefabricated architecture. The Tropical House reflects his interest in industrial metals, specifically in modular steel and aluminum.
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. The Hammer installation is only the second presentation of the Tropical House outside of France following its U.S. debut at Yale University in April 2005.
The construction in the Hammer Museum courtyard will feature a 6 by 6 meter (19’6” by 19’6”) version of the refurbished house, which is raised on a veranda creating an overall structure of 8 by 10 meters (24’3” by 32’10”). This 80 square meter structure is more than half of the original 140 square meter house and veranda constructed in Brazzaville. An educational display alongside the house includes photographs, plans, drawings, and a short film documenting the installation of the Tropical House at Yale University.
Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House was curated by historian Robert Rubin and originally presented at the Yale University School of Architecture. The presentation at the Hammer Museum is made possible, in part, by Sotheby’s and the Consulate General of France, Los Angeles.
THE TROPICAL HOUSE
Beginning in the 1930s, prefabrication and the industrialization of lightweight metal building systems was the central focus of Prouvé’s work. Over several decades, he produced a series of prototype buildings from portable vacation homes to major public buildings. The Tropical House was the ultimate iteration of this system. Incorporating an extra degree of complexity compared to his France-based work due to climatic extremes, it utilizes a one-meter grid system with fork-shaped portico supports of bent steel, honoring Prouvé’s dictum to build using the least number of varying parts. All components are designed to be as flat as possible in order to fit efficiently in the hold of a cargo plane. Today, the restored structure fits inside two standard 40-foot shipping containers. All but the largest structural elements are made of aluminum, and no individual piece is longer than four meters or heavier than 100 kilos in order to be a manageable load for two workers. The structure features an external light-reflecting series of sun-shields that is separated from an inner insulating skin of sliding doors and fixed panels. A veranda surrounds the entire structure, and the floor is raised off the ground to control humidity and encourage air circulation. Natural cooling and shading that are utilized to the maximum extent possible.
JEAN PROUVÉ
Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) was born in Nancy, France. The son of a founder of the Ecole de Nancy, he trained as an ironworker and subsequently founded Ateliers Jean Prouvé in 1931. Although better known for his iconic furniture designs, Prouvé made significant contributions to 20th century building and collaborated with leading French architects and designers such as Rob Mallet-Stevens, Le Corbusier, and Charlotte Perriand. He frequently worked on industrial and institutional projects, and his post-war clients included the French Ministry of Reconstruction for whom he designed metal-framed houses for refugees. He started the Maxéville factory on the outskirts of Nancy in 1947, which became his laboratory for the development of metal structures and industrialized building techniques. He had to subsequently relinquish control of the factory to the French aluminum monopoly, which led him to work primarily as a consultant and to explore other industrial materials such as plastics.
RELATED PROGRAM
Prefab Now conference and home tours
October 28 – 30, 2005
Produced in collaboration with Dwell magazine, Prefab Now presents distinguished experts in a three-day conference exploring the groundbreaking ideas, benefits, and difficulties of prefab architecture. The event includes an opening night reception; a full-day symposium with renowned speakers, and an exclusive tour of L.A.'s most noteworthy prefab homes.
Prefab Now is sponsored by Audi, www.audiusa.com.
Registration is limited; fees are $395 before September 15 and $495 for regular admission. For registration or more information, visit www.dwellmag.com/prefab.
Hammer Members at the Supporter level and above are eligible for a limited number of discount tickets. Please call Hammer Membership 310-443-7046 for the discount code to register online. Call now to purchase your tickets.
Friday, October 28
Opening reception at Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House in the Hammer Museum courtyard.
Saturday, October 29
Continental Breakfast, Presentations, and Panel Discussions in the Hammer Museum’s Gallery 6. Introduction by Allison Arieff, editor-in-chief of Dwell and co-author of Prefab; with lectures and presentations by Robert Rubin on Jean Prouvé’s Tropical House; Alastair Gordon on the Leisurama Homes; Jay Baldwin on R. Buckminster Fuller; Michelle Kaufmann on the Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse; Charlie Lazor on the Flatpak house; Leo Marmol on desert prefab; Lloyd Alter on prefab manufacturing; Jennifer Siegal on mobile design; Wes Jones on shipping container architecture; and Joseph Tanney on the Dwell House.
Sunday, October 30
Private home tours of prefab homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, with shuttle service from the Hammer Museum.
RELATED EXHIBITIONS
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
MOCA Pacific Design Center
Jean Prouvé: Three Nomadic Structures
August 14 – November 27, 2005
An exhibition featuring furniture, architectural elements, and photographs relating to three prefabricated Prouvé buildings—the Glassmaking School in Croismare, France, the Tropical House for Brazzaville and Niamey, Africa, and the Aluminum Centenary Pavilion in Villepinte, France.
For more information visit www.moca.org. For press information, contact Heidi Simonian at hsimonian@moca.org or call 213-621-1749.
Small Space Gallery, Perloff Hall, UCLA
Jean Prouvé: Drawings and Photographs of A Tropical House
October 17 – December 9, 2005
An exhibition exploring Prouvé’s lightweight-metal building system for the Tropical House through drawings, photographs, and construction materials. Components of the Tropical House will be displayed in the Perloff Hall courtyard.
For more information visit www.aud.ucla.edu. For press information contact Caroline Blackburn at caroline.blackburn@aud.ucla.edu or call 310-267-4704.
HAMMER MUSEUM MISSION
The Hammer Museum is dedicated to exploring the diversity of artistic expression through the ages, recognizing that artists play a crucial role in all aspects of culture and society. The Museum’s programming spans the classics to the cutting-edge, presenting exhibitions of historical and contemporary art alongside selections from its permanent collections. Founded by Dr. Armand Hammer in 1990, the Museum’s collections include The Armand Hammer Collection of Old Master, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings; The Armand Hammer Daumier and Contemporaries Collection; The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, containing over 45,000 works on paper; and the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on the UCLA campus.
In addition to selections from its permanent collections, the Hammer Museum presents a range of acclaimed exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, architecture, and design. The Museum also presents approximately ten Hammer Projects each year focusing on the work of emerging artists. The series provides international and local artists with a laboratory-like environment to create new work or to present existing work in a new context, and reflects the Museum’s commitment to serving artists by providing a responsive, flexible arena for presenting their work to the Los Angeles community.
HAMMER MUSEUM INFORMATION
Website with current program and exhibition information: www.hammer.ucla.edu
Phone: 310-443-7000; TTY: 310-443-7094
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 11am–7pm; Thursday, 11am–9pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm; closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: FREE ADMISSION to the Hammer Museum courtyard featuring Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House.
Regular Museum admission $5 for adults; $3 for seniors (65+) and UCLA Alumni Association members; free for Museum members, students with identification, UCLA faculty/staff, and visitors 17 and under. The Museum is free for everyone on Thursdays.
Location/Parking: The Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, at Westwood Boulevard. Parking is available under the Museum. Rates are $3 for the first two hours with Museum validation, $1.50 for each additional 20 minutes.
Museum Tours: For reservations and information, call 310-443-7041
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center is operated by the University of California, Los Angeles. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has partially endowed the Museum and constructed the Occidental Petroleum Cultural Center Building, which houses the Museum.
- UCLA -
The Tropical House will be installed in the Hammer Museum courtyard during October and November 2005, providing an unprecedented opportunity to study this influential designer’s early prototype of prefabricated housing first-hand
August 3
Los Angeles, CA—A prefabricated metal house conceived and constructed by French designer Jean Prouvé, known as the Tropical House, will be installed in the Hammer Museum courtyard during October and November 2005. Installation of Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House will begin on October 4, and deinstallation will begin on November 27, 2005. The installation and deinstallation periods will last for approximately two weeks and are integral aspects of the display, allowing the public to observe, first-hand, Prouvé’s notions of prefabricated architecture in practice.
Jean Prouvé is widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant European designers of the 20th century, recognized for his pioneering use of industrial materials and new technologies. Prouvé’s innovative designs range from household and commercial furnishings to residential homes and industrial buildings including many influential experiments in prefabricated architecture. The Tropical House reflects his interest in industrial metals, specifically in modular steel and aluminum.
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. The Hammer installation is only the second presentation of the Tropical House outside of France following its U.S. debut at Yale University in April 2005.
The construction in the Hammer Museum courtyard will feature a 6 by 6 meter (19’6” by 19’6”) version of the refurbished house, which is raised on a veranda creating an overall structure of 8 by 10 meters (24’3” by 32’10”). This 80 square meter structure is more than half of the original 140 square meter house and veranda constructed in Brazzaville. An educational display alongside the house includes photographs, plans, drawings, and a short film documenting the installation of the Tropical House at Yale University.
Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House was curated by historian Robert Rubin and originally presented at the Yale University School of Architecture. The presentation at the Hammer Museum is made possible, in part, by Sotheby’s and the Consulate General of France, Los Angeles.
THE TROPICAL HOUSE
Beginning in the 1930s, prefabrication and the industrialization of lightweight metal building systems was the central focus of Prouvé’s work. Over several decades, he produced a series of prototype buildings from portable vacation homes to major public buildings. The Tropical House was the ultimate iteration of this system. Incorporating an extra degree of complexity compared to his France-based work due to climatic extremes, it utilizes a one-meter grid system with fork-shaped portico supports of bent steel, honoring Prouvé’s dictum to build using the least number of varying parts. All components are designed to be as flat as possible in order to fit efficiently in the hold of a cargo plane. Today, the restored structure fits inside two standard 40-foot shipping containers. All but the largest structural elements are made of aluminum, and no individual piece is longer than four meters or heavier than 100 kilos in order to be a manageable load for two workers. The structure features an external light-reflecting series of sun-shields that is separated from an inner insulating skin of sliding doors and fixed panels. A veranda surrounds the entire structure, and the floor is raised off the ground to control humidity and encourage air circulation. Natural cooling and shading that are utilized to the maximum extent possible.
JEAN PROUVÉ
Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) was born in Nancy, France. The son of a founder of the Ecole de Nancy, he trained as an ironworker and subsequently founded Ateliers Jean Prouvé in 1931. Although better known for his iconic furniture designs, Prouvé made significant contributions to 20th century building and collaborated with leading French architects and designers such as Rob Mallet-Stevens, Le Corbusier, and Charlotte Perriand. He frequently worked on industrial and institutional projects, and his post-war clients included the French Ministry of Reconstruction for whom he designed metal-framed houses for refugees. He started the Maxéville factory on the outskirts of Nancy in 1947, which became his laboratory for the development of metal structures and industrialized building techniques. He had to subsequently relinquish control of the factory to the French aluminum monopoly, which led him to work primarily as a consultant and to explore other industrial materials such as plastics.
RELATED PROGRAM
Prefab Now conference and home tours
October 28 – 30, 2005
Produced in collaboration with Dwell magazine, Prefab Now presents distinguished experts in a three-day conference exploring the groundbreaking ideas, benefits, and difficulties of prefab architecture. The event includes an opening night reception; a full-day symposium with renowned speakers, and an exclusive tour of L.A.'s most noteworthy prefab homes.
Prefab Now is sponsored by Audi, www.audiusa.com.
Registration is limited; fees are $395 before September 15 and $495 for regular admission. For registration or more information, visit www.dwellmag.com/prefab.
Hammer Members at the Supporter level and above are eligible for a limited number of discount tickets. Please call Hammer Membership 310-443-7046 for the discount code to register online. Call now to purchase your tickets.
Friday, October 28
Opening reception at Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House in the Hammer Museum courtyard.
Saturday, October 29
Continental Breakfast, Presentations, and Panel Discussions in the Hammer Museum’s Gallery 6. Introduction by Allison Arieff, editor-in-chief of Dwell and co-author of Prefab; with lectures and presentations by Robert Rubin on Jean Prouvé’s Tropical House; Alastair Gordon on the Leisurama Homes; Jay Baldwin on R. Buckminster Fuller; Michelle Kaufmann on the Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse; Charlie Lazor on the Flatpak house; Leo Marmol on desert prefab; Lloyd Alter on prefab manufacturing; Jennifer Siegal on mobile design; Wes Jones on shipping container architecture; and Joseph Tanney on the Dwell House.
Sunday, October 30
Private home tours of prefab homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, with shuttle service from the Hammer Museum.
RELATED EXHIBITIONS
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
MOCA Pacific Design Center
Jean Prouvé: Three Nomadic Structures
August 14 – November 27, 2005
An exhibition featuring furniture, architectural elements, and photographs relating to three prefabricated Prouvé buildings—the Glassmaking School in Croismare, France, the Tropical House for Brazzaville and Niamey, Africa, and the Aluminum Centenary Pavilion in Villepinte, France.
For more information visit www.moca.org. For press information, contact Heidi Simonian at hsimonian@moca.org or call 213-621-1749.
Small Space Gallery, Perloff Hall, UCLA
Jean Prouvé: Drawings and Photographs of A Tropical House
October 17 – December 9, 2005
An exhibition exploring Prouvé’s lightweight-metal building system for the Tropical House through drawings, photographs, and construction materials. Components of the Tropical House will be displayed in the Perloff Hall courtyard.
For more information visit www.aud.ucla.edu. For press information contact Caroline Blackburn at caroline.blackburn@aud.ucla.edu or call 310-267-4704.
HAMMER MUSEUM MISSION
The Hammer Museum is dedicated to exploring the diversity of artistic expression through the ages, recognizing that artists play a crucial role in all aspects of culture and society. The Museum’s programming spans the classics to the cutting-edge, presenting exhibitions of historical and contemporary art alongside selections from its permanent collections. Founded by Dr. Armand Hammer in 1990, the Museum’s collections include The Armand Hammer Collection of Old Master, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings; The Armand Hammer Daumier and Contemporaries Collection; The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, containing over 45,000 works on paper; and the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on the UCLA campus.
In addition to selections from its permanent collections, the Hammer Museum presents a range of acclaimed exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, architecture, and design. The Museum also presents approximately ten Hammer Projects each year focusing on the work of emerging artists. The series provides international and local artists with a laboratory-like environment to create new work or to present existing work in a new context, and reflects the Museum’s commitment to serving artists by providing a responsive, flexible arena for presenting their work to the Los Angeles community.
HAMMER MUSEUM INFORMATION
Website with current program and exhibition information: www.hammer.ucla.edu
Phone: 310-443-7000; TTY: 310-443-7094
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 11am–7pm; Thursday, 11am–9pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm; closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: FREE ADMISSION to the Hammer Museum courtyard featuring Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House.
Regular Museum admission $5 for adults; $3 for seniors (65+) and UCLA Alumni Association members; free for Museum members, students with identification, UCLA faculty/staff, and visitors 17 and under. The Museum is free for everyone on Thursdays.
Location/Parking: The Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, at Westwood Boulevard. Parking is available under the Museum. Rates are $3 for the first two hours with Museum validation, $1.50 for each additional 20 minutes.
Museum Tours: For reservations and information, call 310-443-7041
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center is operated by the University of California, Los Angeles. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has partially endowed the Museum and constructed the Occidental Petroleum Cultural Center Building, which houses the Museum.
- UCLA -