On the North Fork of Long Island, Tom Kundig Devises a Kinetic Showcase for a Rare Jean Prouve Masterwork

"In 1944, as World War II ravaged Europe, the French Ministry of Reconstruction and Urban Planning enlisted then 43-year-old architect Jean Prouvé to conceive temporary shelter for displaced citizens. The results have since become one of the enduring icons of prefabricated design: a series of low-cost, easy-to-build dwellings, constructed using his patented axial portal frame. Only some 400 of these demountable houses were ever realized. Of those, many now belong to museum collections."

"Kundig—who also renovated the property's gambrel-roofed main residence—responded by creating a flexible outbuilding that doubles as both poolhouse and showcase. A kinetic track system links this new structure to the Prouvé original (now used as an office and gathering space). Depending on the season and weather, the demountable house can either stand separately in the plot's exuberant meadow—fully exposed to the open air—or nestle beneath the poolhouse's trellis, shaded from the elements. And in harsh winter conditions, it can slide completely indoors, cocooned, Russian doll-style, in Kundig's pavilion."

In 1944 the French Ministry of Reconstruction and Urban Planning commissioned architect Jean Prouvé to design temporary shelters for displaced citizens, producing low-cost demountable houses built with his patented axial portal frame. Approximately 400 units were constructed and many later entered museum collections. One surviving example sits on Long Island and serves as an office and gathering space. Architect Tom Kundig designed a flexible pavilion that functions as both poolhouse and protective showcase. A kinetic track links the pavilion to the Prouvé house, enabling the structure to sit in the meadow, under a trellis, or slide fully indoors for winter protection.

Read at Architectural Digest