Anatomy of the ‘Alphabet of Structure’ in Jean Prouvé

This paper aims to examine the concept of ‘structure’ by focusing on the ‘Alphabet of Structures’ developed by the French engineer and architect Jean Prouvé (1901–1984). The supporting columns of the ‘portique’ type, the first structural form, constitute a ‘structure’ as the vowels of a 10-letter ‘alphabet’. However, the minimisation of all materials—be they steel, aluminium or plastic—is a common feature throughout all structural types. The ‘Alphabet of Structures’ has neither priority nor hierarchy; the ‘alphabet’ itself can be regarded as a pre-structure or quasi-structure for the service of ‘construction’.