The emerging university market was an opportunity for the ATELIERS JEAN PROUVÉ to work on new furniture models, both light and inexpensive.
Built in 1954 by architect Eugène Beaudouin, the “Cité Universitaire Jean Zay” in Antony near Paris was seen as a model: just as a city, the university accommodation complex included, besides lodgings, three swimming pools, two restaurants, three lecture halls, a theatre, a library, a nursery school, two day nurseries, an infirmary, a social care center and shops.
A first competition is held in March 1951 for the university hall of Residence, for which the Ateliers Jean Prouvé proposed numerous furniture.
A second competition, this time for room furnishing, was launched in the beginning of the year 1955. Several designers were invited to take part in the furnishing of the accommodation complex, among whom JEAN PROUVÉ, who won the order for the furniture of the halls, the restaurants as well as for 148 individual rooms.
The “Cité Universitaire Jean Zay” was inaugurated on December 1, 1955.
The following pieces furnished the refectory and student rooms.