The exhibition TRUE TO SCALE, which was first displayed at the Draiflessen Collection from May 15 to October 20, 2024, attracted a great deal of interest, not only from our visitors, but also from the expert audience at the Architekturgalerie München, where it was presented again from 2 July to 2 August 2025.
In Munich, the focus was on a curated selection of over one hundred architectural models from the Draiflessen Collection. Of particular note were the C&A department stores, which were designed by the Essen-based architectural firm Nattler (formerly E. A. Gärtner/Ric Stiens until 1990, and Ric Stiens/Heinz Nattler until 1994). Decades of collaboration with C&A since the 1950s have resulted in over 170 department stores – buildings that have shaped cityscapes and written a chapter in architectural and corporate history.
For the exhibition and the accompanying publication, curator Dr. Julia Cwojdzinski (Draiflessen Collection) commissioned the renowned architectural photographer HGEsch to document the C&A buildings with current photographs and impressively visualise the dialogue between built history and today's urban landscape.
Historical photographs of the first C&A stores, built before the Second World War, set an atmospheric tone for the exhibition. Opposite these were models of the mixed-use complex Alea 101, designed by Sauerbruch Hutton in 2009 and now located on the site of the original C&A store in Königstraße in Berlin. The exhibition spanned a precisely composed arc from the beginnings to the present.
A special highlight of the Munich presentation was a rarely exhibited historical model: the C&A building for Stuttgart, designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1924 but never realised — a fascinating testament to architectural vision.
