Aluminum vs Steel

Significant amounts of bauxite (the main source of aluminum) are extracted from French colonial Africa and, (along with other materials) are shipped to Europe where they are used in the manufacture of final products. These European manufacturers would then look to Africa as an important new market to expand sales and revenues.

Even with all their industrial efficiency, Prouvé’s prefabricated houses proves more expensive than expected – presumably working with local materials and builders in the colonies is less expensive.

The majority of Maison Tropicale is constructed out of aluminum, where aluminum fatigue performance (compared to steel) is less than 50 percent, its formability approximately 2/3 lower (less forming range), and lower overall hardness (Figure 1).      

Figure 1
Aluminum is proven to be much more expensive than steel, even more so in 1951 than today, as demonstrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2
The market size for aluminum is also much smaller:

Figure 3

Aluminum is on average 20-40 percent lighter than steel, depending on the product, and can be made equally strong--but at about 3 times the cost per ton. Therefore, the main reason the prefabricated house did not come into mass production is because of the unexpected costs. With steel being cheaper, and ultimately more efficient in formability, hardness and fatigue endurance, why was aluminum the main material chosen for this mass production?

Edited by Helena Dini Dec 11 10:54 AM