Among the major building projects of post-war France, the university residence Jean Zay at Antony in the outskirts of Paris, built in 1954-1955 by Eugène Beaudouin was innovative for its exceptional size and social vocation. A very large number of designers and manufacturers were called on to furnish this project conceived like an American campus.
Jean Prouvé, who had already provided furniture for the Nancy university campus in 1933 and the law faculty of Aix-en-Provence in 1952, created especially ingenious equipment: furnishings for a cafeteria as well as many bedrooms. Designed like cells with a simple layout, they were arranged symmetrically by groups of two. For this project, Jean Prouvé adapted his existing furniture such as beds, chairs and the Compas desk while developing a new model of chair in moulded plywood: the Antony chair.