MAßSTÄBLICH

The exhibition "MAßSTÄBLICH" features a selection of over one hundred architectural models from the Draiflessen Collection. They depict C&A department stores designed by the Essen-based architectural firm Nattler (E.A. Gärtner/Ric Stiens until 1990; Ric Stiens/Heinz Nattler until 1994). Over the course of decades of collaboration between C&A and the Essen-based firm, more than 170 department stores have been designed and built since the 1950s.

Historical photographs of the first C&A stores, built before World War II, provide an introduction to this history. Contrasting with this is the model of the mixed-use complex Alea 101, designed in 2009 by the architectural firm Sauerbruch Hutton, which was built on the site where the so-called C&A flagship store once stood on Berlin’s Königstraße. The exhibition at the Architekturgalerie also features a very special historical model: the C&A building for Stuttgart, designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1924 but never realized.

In an interview, architect Ric Stiens recounts the history of the buildings, while Thomas Höxtermann, current managing director of Nattler Architekten, describes the significance of models in today’s architectural practice. For the exhibition and the book, renowned architectural photographer Hans Georg Esch was commissioned to document the C&A buildings with contemporary photographs.

The exhibition "MAßSTÄBLICH" was on view for the first time at the Draiflessen Collection from May 15, 2024, to October 20, 2024. In October, the accompanying publication was released, featuring photographic material from the collection’s own archives, as well as photographs by HGEsch and scholarly articles on corporate history, department store architecture, and model making.

Continuity in Collaboration
On January 1, 1841, brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer laid the foundation for the corporate group—which remains active internationally to this day—by founding the company C&A Brenninkmeijer in Sneek, the Netherlands. By the end of the 19th century, the company had expanded into major Dutch cities with several branches under the leadership of their sons. Finally, in 1911, the first store in Germany opened on Königstraße in Berlin—the center of the ready-to-wear clothing industry.
The long-standing successful collaboration between C&A Brenninkmeijer and what is now the Nattler architectural firm began in the early 20th century with architect Sepp Kaiser (1872–1936), who was responsible for the first 20 or so department stores in Germany. In the 1930s, Ernst August Gärtner (1905–1983) joined the firm and quickly rose to become its head. Starting in 1948, Gärtner, now based in Essen (Ruhr), resumed his work for C&A. Together with Ric Stiens (*1930)—but especially under Stiens’s later sole leadership—the firm carried out numerous additional new construction and renovation projects, which have been continued under the name Nattler Architekten since 1994.

The Draiflessen Collection
In 2009, the Brenninkmeijer family of entrepreneurs founded Draiflessen in their Westphalian hometown of Mettingen. On the former production site, a museum—the Draiflessen Collection—was built to the highest international standards alongside a modern conference center, featuring exhibition spaces for high-caliber exhibitions as well as state-of-the-art archive and storage facilities. The museum offers visitors three distinct areas: The main exhibition space, “Main Space,” featuring rotating presentations of artistic works and international loans; the study room, which houses the Liberna Collection and exhibitions drawn from the outstanding collection of book art and prints, with a focus on the 15th and 17th centuries; and DAS Forum, a platform for interdisciplinary research that offers insights into the scholarly work of the family and corporate archives.

Opening: 2.7.2025, 7 pm
Speakers:
Dr. Corinna Otto, Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen
Nicola Borgmann, Architekturgalerie München