Foster + Partners Civic Vision Exhibition Highlights Enduring Role of Scale Models in Architecture

The Civic Vision exhibition by Foster + Partners in Sydney showcases the pivotal role of architectural scale models in shaping iconic structures, highlighting seven decades of hi-tech and sustainable designs including the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II and Sydney's Metro train stations. Architect Alessandro Scandurra emphasizes architecture as a meaningful act of sense-making, blending art, memory, and urban transformation to reconnect spaces with their historical and social contexts, as seen in his Milan projects. Workshop for Metropolitan Architecture (WMA) stresses the importance of proportion, rhythm, and scale in creating immersive and emotionally resonant architectural experiences that engage all senses. The 2025 Architizer Vision Awards highlight how AI and traditional techniques in architectural visualization can emphasize locality and cultural narratives, exemplified by projects reimagining Los Angeles' freeways and exploring themes of urban destruction and refuge. Collectively, these perspectives underscore architecture’s capacity to blend history, technology, and human experience, crafting spaces that are both innovative and deeply rooted in place.