Consider this the heavy metalworker’s acoustic set: Designed for Paris University, this smooth tripod table showed Prouvé stepping out of his comfort zone and experimenting with a different material: wood. Given the post-war steel shortage, it wasn’t a bad time to try something new.

One of Prouvé’s postwar prefab successes, this portico layout won a Ministry of Education competition to design a rural schoolhouse that could be mass produced. While the building looks spartan, small touches, such as a wood and aluminum interior and space for a glassed-in winter garden, make it more than merely livable.

Noguchi Rudder Table (1949)A wooden vessel resting on a pair of metal hairpin legs, this Herman Miller design exhibits a functional finesse and a surf-like, 1950s feel. Reintroduced last year, the tabletop has the same shape as Noguchi’s iconic coffee table. Photo courtesy of The Noguchi Museum, New York.

Living, dining, and kitchen spaces flow into one another in the soaring great room. Here, the Sacramento firm placed new, polished concrete slabs over the original ones to alleviate unsightly cracks.

Charles and Ray on the steel frames of their home while it was under construction in 1949.

Set on an east-west axis, the home stays cool with shading south-facing glass, minimal west-facing glass, and operable windows that allow for natural ventilation. Energy recovery ventilators also bring fresh air into the home.

John Pawson: 1949 Wish Bone Chair (miniature model) for Hans J. Wegner for Carl Hansen and Son.

Miami Parking Garage, designed by Robert Law Weed, 1949.

"The Chair", in oak and tan leather, created by Hans Wegner in 1949.

A Seattle family tasked Atmosphere Design Build with creating a sustainable dwelling in Nevada City, California, the matriarch's hometown and a historic mining community. The firm's material-driven approach channels the pioneer spirit of the gold rush, without compromising comfort or high-efficiency standards.

This 1949 inter-war modernist house in New South Wales was renovated by Sam Crawford Architects, Conway Atkins House in a way that paid homage to it's heritage with nautical and transportation art deco elements.

Simpatico Homes founder Seth Krubiner has lived in the prefab company’s nearly net-zero prototype since it was customized and lifted onsite in 2011.

Components for low-cost prefab homes designed by Habitat for Humanity and the firm Minarc for South Central Los Angeles were trucked in and assembled over three days. Photos by Art Gray.

Chieftain Chair designed by Finn Juhl in 1949

Designed by a little-known architect in 1949, the now streamlined home honors its original bones.

Rice surfs the net at the built-in desk.

Built in 1949, this Lustron house in Minneapolis is one of six such steel prefabs on Nicollet Avenue.

The Malibu Crest residence has the most desirable spot on the hill because it was the first house built there in 1949.

A cheerful bright green door welcomes guests into the thoughtfully restored 1949 home.

Located in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood, The Eames House, also known as Case Study House No. 8, is a landmark of midcentury modern architecture. Constructed in 1949 by husband-and-wife Charles and Ray Eames, they lived in the home—which served as both their home and studio—until their deaths. Charles in 1978 and Ray, ten years to the day, in 1988.

The challenge of renovating an iconic midcentury house is surely a daunting one for any architect, but apply this formula to a Richard Neutra house, and the responsibility rises exponentially. This was the situation for Los Angeles–based architect Peter Grueneisen, founder and principal of Los Angeles–based Nonzero Architecture, who inherited the task of taking on significant updates to an already-altered Neutra—the 1949 Freedman House in Pacific Palisades, California.

The main house on Petra Island sits on the exact site chosed in 1949 by Frank Llyod Wright himself.

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

Originally built in 1949 by Richard Neutra, Alexander Ban, and Josef Van Der Kar, the Millard Kaufman Residence is located in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California.

Built in 1949, Byrdview is one of four residential homes designed by the famed midcentury architect William Pereira, known for his futuristic designs that include the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.

The dining room houses Juhl's Judas table and Egyptian chairs, both from 1949. The abstract paintings hanging above the dining table are by Asger Jorn and Richard Mortensen.

The style of this specific Lustron is known as Westchester Deluxe. Featuring 1,153 square feet of living space, the 1949 midcentury still remains in its rare original condition.

Vintage Alvar Aalto Table Model 91 “I thought it would be interesting to include a piece of vintage furniture, since that’s where we got our start. It’s a bold and big table for such a restrained designer, with chunky legs and decorative veneer. It’s big for 1930’s standards, and still has labels and stickers on the bottom, including one from Harvey Nichols, the original importer.”

A view of the installation at the House for Contemporary Art in Belgium.

Numen's Net, occupied by gallery attendees.

Vilhelm Lundstrom portrait of Juhl’s wife, Hanne Wilhelm Hansen, hangs above Juhl's Poet sofa (1941). The sofa faces one of Juhl's most recognizable designs, the 1949 Chieftain chair. The white brick hearth extends into the room to resemble an area rug.

Nothing but WOW ❤️❤️❤️

Designers Valerie Levitt Halsey and Brett Halsey brought cohesion to a 1949 house in suburban Los Angeles that had been expanded in the early 1960s by its original designer, Donald E. Pedersen. The slanted windows at the front “provide the first hint that there’s something interesting inside,” says Halsey.

A 1949 desk for two students, designed by Jean Prouve in 1949.

Edgar Tafel worked on Fallingwater before he devised the 1949 Bookstaber House, which just hit the market for the second time.

Exterior view of the Jane Addams Homes in 1949.