From 1945 on, the disciples and old pupils of Auguste Perret form the Le Havre Reconstruction Studio and initiate an internal competition. They must imagine a “new city” which will re-house 40 000 inhabitants in the city centre.
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The ideal city of 1946
The final plan is adopted in March 1946: the Perret Studio suggests a town structured on three different scales: the general urban scale, that of the blocks of flats and last, that of the standard arrangement inside flats. The general plan follows modern precepts and the systematic use of reinforced concrete, while keeping to the pre-war lay-out of the town.
Experimenting on site
On the vast building site that was the reconstruction of Le Havre, the MRU (Ministry for the Reconstruction and Urbanism, founded 1944) led a number of major technical experiments: the post/beam/slab system, prefabrication and standardization…..
Land regrouping
Apart from the impact of the structural module over architectural aspect and inside fittings, a new demographic distribution as well as a new definition of ownership arise from land regrouping. Architect Jacques Tournant was in charge of it, having convinced Perret as early as 1943 of his ability to deal with joint questions of urban planning and land regrouping.