Prouve devised a jointed steel structure which allowed him Prouve conceived a jointed structure that could be erected without scaffolding, a technique he used on a number of occasions, notably with Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand for housing, hospital and other buildings in 1939. The structural members, made of folded steel, consist of one or more lateral portals, in the form of a truncated "A," pin-jointed to a central longitudinal ridge member with slightly angled gable beams bolted laterally at both ends. The roof panels are arranged laterally at one end and over the prefabricated panels at the other. The houses themselves are raised off the ground on tapering steel joists supported on piloti. The positioning of the partitions inside is relatively flexible, limited only by the structural module of the external panels.

The houses on the Meudon estate were sold to fairly wealthy people. Although some modifications and changes have been made to individual houses over the last 35 years, the estate is still in very good condition. Prouve demonstrated that Meudon houses could be produced competitively, which suggested that they might manufactured on a large scale. However, the government never again took up the design and no more houses were produced

Image Credit: Jean Prouve: Architecture/Industrie, Klient, 19--