During the war Prouvé was also politically active as a member of the French Resistance and he was recognized for this involvement after the war by being named mayor of Nancy. He was also made a member of the Advisory Assembly after Liberation and made the Departmental Inspector for Technical Education.
Façade detail of Maison tropicale
In the period after World War II (1939–45) there was increased interest in using new methods and materials for mass production of furniture. Manufacturers of materials such as formica, plywood, aluminum, and steel sponsored the salons of the Société des artistes décorateurs. Designers who exhibited their experimental work at the salons in this period included Prouvé, Pierre Guariche, René-Jean Caillette, Joseph-André Motte, Charlotte Perriand, Antoine Philippon and Jacqueline Lecoq.[9] In 1947 Prouvé built the Maxéville factory where he produced furniture and undertook extensive architectural research on the uses of aluminum. In the Ferembal Demountable House (1948), designed as the offices of the eponymous tin goods manufacturer, steel portal frames form a structural core.[10] In 1949, Prouvé and his brother Henri won a contract by the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urbanism to build a 14-lot subdivision at Meudon, just outside Paris, to demonstrate his prototype lightweight prefabricated metal building system.[7]