SPACE January 2025 (No. 686)
Installation view of 6 × 6 Demountable House ©Park Jihong
Since last month, from Nov. 30, 2024, the exhibition ‘Jean Prouvé 6 × 6: Demountable House’ has taken over the basement floor of Seoul Auction Gangnam Center. Jean Prouvé is an architect and designer who – as a contemporary of Le Corbusier – represents 20th century French modernism. This exhibition showcases several of his furniture and his 6 × 6 Demountable House (1944) on its actual scale. Being roofless, one can directly view inside the house from the first floor. The creaking sound from the floorboard reminds one of the fact that this is a house that has been preserved since the 1940s. 6 × 6 Demountable House is a temporary housing project that Jean Prouvé designed under the order of the French government for people who lost their homes after the Second World War. The U-shaped metal pillar which bears the house’s entire load is this house’s most striking feature. The beam extends out with the pillar as the centre, and a steel frame hangs on the beam. The gaps in between are filled with standardised wooden panels. This assembly process enabled a rapid supply of temporary housing. When about 400 houses were built, Prouvé explored the possibility of building demountable houses on a larger scale. While 20 of these houses have survived, only a few still retain their original form.
