Technology: Metal Facade Finishings
The significance of Jean Prouvé's use of metal as a facade material might be compared with the contribution Joseph Paxton made to iron and steel construction with the erection of his Crystal Palace in London in 1851. Prouvé, a blacksmith by training, explored numerous innovative techniques in the course of his life and did much to further the cause of advanced building skins. Using machines he had developed himself in part, he was able to apply metal moulding and processing methods to large-area construction and the creation of new building components. The materials he used most frequently were steel, aluminium and stainless steel, and sometimes brass and copper. One of his greatest achievements was to apply metals in areas where timber, glass and mineral materials had been used hitherto. The curtain-wall facades Prouvé developed at the end of the 1950s introduced a new age in the use of metals (ill. 1).
