Unique exhibition in France resurrects Jean Prouvé’s lightweight steel structures

A unique exhibition in France scheduled to open in July will showcase the progressive lightweight constructions championed by famous modernist architect Jean Prouvé.

Architect Éric Touchaleaume, a long-term admirer of Prouvé's architectural legacy, bought the site of the Friche de l’Escalette in the south of Marseille in 2011, and installed the first steel-frame prototype of the "Habitat Tropical du Cameroun" designed by Jean Prouvé in collaboration with Atelier LWD in the 1960s. The site will become a setting where examples of outstanding industrial heritage will be integrated within a labyrinth of stone walls, part of an old, lead-extracting plant that operated between 1851 and 1925. The exhibition will reference Prouvé’s œuvre and his experiments with lightweight steel structures.

Friche de l’Escalette is part of the Parc National des Calanques and is under strict conservation order. Therefore, Touchaleaume’s project will remain modest and simple to avoid disrupting the existing landscape.