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 July 2, to August 2, 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 visualize 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 pictures 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 on Königstraße in Berlin. The exhibition spanned a precisely composed arc from the early days 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 realized—a fascinating testament to architectural vision.
