“The users of such machines do not touch the ground, but move forward through the connection of their hands and feet to grips and pedals transferring physical force to wheels, propellers…”
Christoff Asendorf in Batteries of Life: On the History of Things and their Perception in Modernity, Translated by Don Reneau.
Credits: “Deux filles se promènent à travers le ciel” by Max Ernst, 1929, scanned from Batteries of Life.
[Originally posted to polis] Jean Prouvé was born in Nancy, France, in 1901. His father was a painter and his mother a musician. Their community reflected the values of the Arts and Crafts Movement, which saw potential in craftsmanship for resolving social problems. Prouvé apprenticed as a blacksmith, working on a variety of architectural projects before setting up his own practice in 1924. Through his commissioned work, he used modern technology to experiment with materials, structure, and form. In 1930, he joined Le Corbusier in founding the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM), which was aimed at fostering connections between the arts and industrial production.
Prouvé’s structures tended to be light, flexible, and even mobile, combining traditional building materials with aluminum and steel. Prefabricated parts were designed and developed with care in his workshop. He and his wife (pictured at left) built a house on a challenging parcel of land overlooking Nancy, mostly out of leftover parts from professional projects. His range of work includes emergency accommodations for war victims, residences for the homeless, and sturdy, easily assembled buildings for French business and colonial interests in Africa (see House for the Tropics, above, and Saharan House, below). Although many of these designs were not widely adopted due to cost or incompatibilities with daily use, they have been preserved as historical landmarks for their striking designs.
Prouvé didn’t believe in utopian master plans. He saw value in theory only when continuously tested and refined through practice. He skillfully combined modern technology with a traditional integration of art and daily life, applying his craft toward improving social conditions. While his designs weren’t always practical, they have proven timeless. The Houses for the Tropics are a case in point. They could be viewed as examples of European arrogance, based on an incorrect assumption that modern technology (and aesthetics) held the answer to socially constructed underdevelopment in the colonies. However, with financing to adapt the structures based on experience and an understanding of local building traditions, they may have become more viable. They’re now displayed by museums, far from the exigencies of daily use.
The images in this post are from the book Jean Prouvé, by Nils Peters. It contains detailed descriptions and images of each project, with emphasis on materials, process, and historical significance. It clearly shows the many lessons to be learned from Prouvé’s ideas.
School in Vantoux, 1950
Mame Printing Works, 1952
Saharan House, 1958
EDF Power Station in Serre-Poncon (Hautes-Alpes), 1959
Seynave Vacation House in Beauvallon, 1962
Seynave Vacation House in Beauvallon, 1962
Seynave Vacation House in Beauvallon, 1962
Youth Center in Ermont, 1967
Youth Center in Ermont, 1967
Youth Center in Ermont, 1967
[Originally posted to Where] I’m not sure if there’s anything left to say about Van Jones, the Obama administration’s special adviser on green jobs. An article by Elizabeth Kolbert details his efforts to address urban poverty and global warming by putting people to work on green infrastructure projects. Jones explains his plans in a recent NPR interview. His work has captured our imagination, but does it represent a promising new form of urban environmentalism?
[Originally posted to Where] A note accompanies this photo in Le Corbusier’s The Radiant City (1933):
“outside our apartments in the Radiant City: we come home from work and change; our friends are there waiting. High spirits, physical activity. And then we can go on to think about the ‘serious’ things afterwards.”
I can see myself now, coming home after a long day’s work and running the steeplechase with my neighbors. :) Le Corbusier’s plans, while at times charmingly unrealistic, are also blamed for inspiring the spread of giant housing projects in cities around the world. But is there enduring value in his thinking?
“[It] appears that we must recognise at least two principal meanings in the word ‘nature.’ In one sense, it means all the powers existing in either the outer or the inner world and everything which takes place by means of those powers. In another sense, it means, not everything which happens, but only what takes place without the agency, or without the voluntary and intentional agency, of man. This distinction is far from exhausting the ambiguities of the word; but it is the key to most of those on which important consequences depend.” John Stuart Mill, On Nature, 1874
[Originally posted to Where] Nature as a term can be inclusive and exclusive. It may include everything in existence or exclude products of human agency (cities, corn fields, art, technology, pollution) from the rest of the world (old-growth forest, boulders, elephants, fire, snowfall). The distinction is blurred when we think of tree farms, artificial lungs, and cloned sheep. Many words have dual meanings, but perceptions of nature can influence our place in the world. When nature is viewed exclusively, where does this leave humans?
In 2005, the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC) commissioned Arup engineers to design a demonstration eco-city to be built on Chongming Island across the Yangtze Delta from Shanghai. The island is currently the site of a migratory bird sanctuary. The plan calls for linking the city to the mainland with an 18-mile bridge-tunnel.
According to Arup’s description of the Dongtan Eco-City, it would “produce its own energy from wind, solar, bio-fuel and recycled city waste.” SIIC and Arup hope the city will become a model for similar cities in China and around the world. However, the plan has been criticized based on fears that the housing would be too expensive for local residents, turning the island into a suburb for wealthy citizens of Shanghai. It would also be interesting to determine the environmental impact of the bridge-tunnel and other new construction.
BBC feature: China’s eco-city faces growth challenge
Quoted from “Dongtan: Eco-City” on BBC News: The Chinese are well aware that cities have a massive impact on the environment so they’ve commissioned the British engineering company, Arup to create a model eco-city where half a million people will live and work without damaging the environment. Their electricity will come from wind and wave, their sewage will fertilise the surrounding farmland and their water will be harvested from the skies and recycled.
The European Union has provided the initial investment to station solar plants along the desert shores of the Mediterranean in northern Africa and the Middle East. They hope to significantly reduce their carbon emissions and increase the supply of drinking water in the desert region through a desalination process linked to solar energy production.
Although this process is currently twice as expensive as coal-generated power, plans are underway to reduce costs. Technological innovation and international energy standards could advance similar projects throughout the world. A recent article in Scientific American (January 2008) titled ‘A Solar Grand Plan’ describes a large-scale solar initiative taking shape in the United States.
This picture of a parabolic trough CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) plant in the Nevada desert, along with more pictures and information on the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC), can be found at the TREC-UK website.
Quoted from ‘How Africa’s desert sun can bring Europe power’ in the Guardian (December 2, 2007): Billions of watts of power could be generated this way, enough to provide Europe with a sixth of its electricity needs and to allow it to make significant cuts in its carbon emissions. At the same time, the stations would be used as desalination plants to provide desert countries with desperately needed supplies of fresh water.
Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is a successful “eco-community” built on reclaimed land in Surrey, England. It is mentioned in a World Resources Institute article on environmentally sustainable housing developments, titled Green Acres: Communities Reduce Ecological Footprints.
Quoted: The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is the UK’s largest carbon-neutral eco-community – the first of its kind in this country. BedZED was developed by the Peabody Trust in partnership with Bill Dunster Architects and BioRegional Development Group, environmental consultants.
The Merton Rule website provides a thorough description of the rule (see below) and how it is influencing the move toward low-carbon planning in the United Kingdom. It includes a list of boroughs that have adopted Merton Rule policies, as well as resources (e.g., documents, case studies, and events) for other communities interested in following suit. The site is a great source of information on environmental planning, which fits in well with Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call for all new houses to be carbon neutral by 2016.
Quoted: The ‘Merton Rule’ is the groundbreaking planning policy, pioneered by the London Borough of Merton, which requires the use of renewable energy onsite to reduce annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the built environment.
Quoted: The World Clean Energy Awards, announced in Basel, Switzerland, on June 15, recognize innovative, practical projects that move renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions into the mainstream. Developed by the independent transatlantic21 Association, the awards are intended to create benchmarks for clean energy in seven categories: construction; transport and mobility; products; services, trade, and marketing; finance and investment; policy and lawmaking; and NGOs and initiatives.