teel structural poles were filled with polymeric foam. The facade panels where either solid or pierced with doors and windows that were framed with wood.
After SIRH successfully completed a few prototypes, including two experimental houses in Nancy, the company made ambitious plans to build hundreds of homes. In order to get subsides for research and development from the government, the SIRH was required to build a prototype building tested the large scale possibilities of the SIRH process for community housing. Upon completion, the company planned to use the prototype structure as the SIRH headquarters.
In 1973, construction began on the experimental building in Ludres, France. All parts of the eight storey, sixty unit structure were produced at the factory and assembled on site by a team of only three to four people. Each module was lifted up on site by crane, stacked and then bolted together. Poles provided additional support between modules and two concrete towers were constructed to house circulation and provided bracing for the entire building.
Shortly before the completion of the SIRH building in 1974, the company suddenly went bankrupt and all construction came to a halt. It has been speculated that the innovative nature of the SIRH process was seen as a threat to other companies and this may have lead to the company’s demise.
The building has remained abandoned ever since.
Public and institutional interest of the ideas behind the experimental process and building of SIRH has grown exponentially since the death of Claude Prouvé in January 2012 and the destruction of the SIRH building this past March. Thankfully, the industrial site owner who led the demolition surrendered to activists’ demands and kindly donated one of the building modules to the “Musée de l’Histoire du Fer”, which is run by the Communauté Urbaine du Grand Nancy.
Additionally, the Pompidou Centre in Paris retains drawings and two models of the project in its collections. Moreover, a doctoral thesis is being drafted by architect Jean-Jacques Clauss that focuses entirely on this subject.
To learn more, be sure to check out the exhibit “SIRH, Mémoire d’un prototype” that open’s tomorrow, June 7th, at the Maison de l’Architecture Lorraine in Nancy. It will conclude June 13th, 2012. Find more information here.
Also, it is a fantastic coincidence that the end of June will also bring the opening of the “PROUVE Year” in Nancy – a cultural program involving the main museums of the city with exhibitions about the different facets of Jean Prouvé. You can find more information about the Jean Prouvé exhibitions here.
Special thanks to Nicolas Waltefaugle, Nadège Bagard, Jean-Jacques Clauss, Caroline Bauer, Karine Thilleul and the Prouvé Family for providing information and images for this article.