I have had prefabs on my mind ever since my vacation Upstate where my brother had set up a camper/trailer as a little guest house at the back of their property, complete with awning, folding chairs, a table and some hanging lanterns. I have always had a fascination with functional compact living. The latest issue of Dwell is not helping, as it is devoted to prefabs. My price-friendly preference by Rocio Romero graces the cover. I first read about Romero when Dwell covered her LV home some years back. I tucked her away in my mind for that day when I might be ready to plunk down a tin box on my own slice of nature somewhere.

So, all of this, and the current Prouvé exhibit in Paris drove me to seek out more information on where some of these ideas originated. The grainy b&w photos on Galerie 54's website did not satisfy my curiosity. I finally unearthed some photos of the LA exhibit via flickr and the UCLA Hammer website, where there is a more extensive history of Prouvé and the house, written by the man who actually bought and restored it. Below is an introduction to the exhibit.

A prefabricated metal house 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 in January, 2006. 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.

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. via UCLA's Hammer Museum