Prophetical Prouve.

'Never design anything that cannot be made' declared Jean Prouve, and two travelling exhibitions on the work of the great engineer demonstrate his commitment to the principle. The first, Three Nomadic Structures, was organised by historian Robert Rubin and architect Evan Douglis who mounted the objects on moulded plastic sections, slotted together to form a rippling blue wave in the satellite gallery of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Set off by Lucien Herve's vintage photos of Prouve's building, the dynamic base complemented the spare angularity of architectural fragments and furniture taken from a school, the Tropical House, and the Aluminum Centenary Pavilion. Each was a prototype of lightweight, prefabricated construction--a goal that preoccupied Prouve throughout his long career.

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Few of Prouve's buildings survive intact, and salvaged relics have become high-priced trophies in galleries and auctions: a bizarre contradiction of the functionalism and frugality that characterised his work. 'We need to take Prouve back from the decorators and return him to the architects,' says Rubin, who initiated the rescue and restoration of two versions of the Tropical House from war-torn Brazzaville in the former French Congo. A reduced version of that modular steel and aluminium structure was displayed in the courtyard of the UCLA/Hammer Museum this autumn, before returning to France where it will be donated to the Pompidou Centre.

In contrast to the prefabricated petrol station that Vitra has restored--much too fastidiously--and added to its Weil am Rheim campus, the Tropical House has the patina (and odd bullet hole) of a half century of use. Its lightweight posts, panels and doors were shipped to Africa in a cargo plane in 1951 and quickly erected on pilotis. A centrally-located steel arch and slender peripheral posts support the shallow-pitched roof which shades a wrap-around verandah. Portholes of clear and dark blue glass are set into metre-wide doors with openings for cross-ventilation. The roof cavity and heat chimney also provide climate control, and aluminium brise-soleil can be adjusted to deflect sun and rain. As Peter Rice observed, 'the balance between constructability, materials and function is pure engineering virtuosity'.

Prouve helped launch the careers of Rice, Rogers, and Piano, as chair of the jury that selected their design for the Pompidou Centre. An untutored maverick who was shunned by the establishment, he now appears as a prophet, far ahead of his time, and timeless in what he proposed and built.

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