Little Beautiful Things: An Architectural Exhibition Showcasing the Enduring Role of Scale Models | Build

In architecture, the largest civic visions are born in the smallest form. Sometimes, the strongest ideas can fit neatly on the table.

A scale model is a crucial step in the journey from conceptual design to horizon. The exhibition, which opens in Sydney on Sunday, pays tribute to the creative role these fragile, tangible microcosms play in shaping some of our most iconic landmarks.

The Civic Vision exhibition from Foster + Partners Architects is part of the annual Sydney Open, a premier architectural event, which provides a behind-the-scenes view of 21 years of design processes. This year’s event will open the doors to 57 buildings and spaces, contrasting new buildings and precious heritage sites.

The scale model gallery showcases seven decades of work in high-tech architecture, sustainable design and stunning civil structures made of glass and steel.

This year, the architecture firm designed the winning National Monument to Queen Elizabeth II, a transparent bridge that will be built in St James’s Park in London, inspired by the diamond tiara that the late queen wore on her wedding day.

He was also part of the Metro Consortium, which designed five new train stations in Sydney which won the 2025 NSW Architecture Medal.

The Civic Design exhibition is the first of its kind in Australia, and draws from a major Norman Foster retrospective held at the Center Pompidou in Paris in 2023. Norman Foster founded Foster + Partners in 1967.

Located at the company’s Sydney studios, Parkline Place, a new 39-storey tower rising above Gadigal Station, the exhibition features a range of scale models ranging from the 1980s Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank – a hand-crafted construction of wood and metal – to a small, finely detailed model of the proposed new Old Trafford stadium, complete with 50,000 human spectators.

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These models are much more than just an architectural marketing gimmick; It is a crucial tool in the design process.

“The model is a tool to understand how the building will look and feel,” says Katie Harris, head of communications at London-based Foster + Partners, who accompanied the Guardian through the exhibition earlier this week.

“Architects have to think in 3D…that’s why actually making models is so important to understand whether you’ve designed correctly or not.

“But a tangible 3D model can also be essential for clients who don’t have those sensibilities of understanding a two-depth drawing or a plan. They can’t understand it. Give them a model, and they get it.”

It says the 50,000 hand-crafted miniature Manchester United fans were specially created to help the client understand the scale and atmosphere of the proposed building.

The collection traces the evolution of modelling, revolutionized by the introduction of 3D printing. But this has not replaced the role of skilled human model makers, and the company still employs about 60 model makers.

Seeing the world in miniature takes people back to a childhood spent making model equipment and building with Lego, Harris says. The art of model making is more than just a professional tool; It is a universal language that allows anyone to understand the enormous scope and complexity of an architect’s vision.

The Stansted Airport Model (1991) displays in miniature a watershed moment in infrastructure design; By placing all mechanical services under the concourse—effectively turning the standard airport design on its head—the roof was freed up, allowing natural light to pour in and help guide passengers, a concept that Harris says has since “been copied by virtually every new airport design around the world.”

The model of Trafalgar Square in the heart of London demonstrates the dramatic impact that a simple urban intervention – replacing a traffic-clogged roundabout with a wide pedestrian square – can transform public amenity.

A close-up view of the 30 St Mary Axe model, known to most Londoners as the Gherkin, reveals a complex ventilation system, where rising bands of atria allow natural airflow, making it an early example of an environmentally friendly high-rise building. This model, almost a piece of sculpture in itself, gives the viewer a level of detail that would be impossible to see or fully understand when looking from a distance at the building itself on the London skyline.

Locally, there is the example of Deutsche Bank Place, which has made its distinctive mark on the Sydney skyline over the past 20 years, thanks to its distinctive heart, and one of the new Parkline Place, which demonstrates a transport-oriented development concept that seamlessly integrates commercial towers with major transport hubs such as Gadigal Station.

The Foster + Partners exhibition is itself a major stop in the wider Sydney Open House program celebrating the city’s architectural identity.

Visitors to the Sydney Open can also explore Bundara at Surry Hills, Australia’s first outdoor grid structure at One Shelly Street at King Street Wharf, as well as the new aerodynamic commercial tower 1 Elizabeth, integrated with the Sydney MRT Martin Place station.

The transformation of the old Darlinghurst Police Station into Qutopia Sydney, the world’s largest center for queer history and culture, has also opened to visitors, as have the Sydney Observatory, mortuary station and the archaeological ruins of Barbury – an 1820s dockworkers’ home that was discovered during the construction of an apartment building at Millers Point in 2000.

• Sydney Open Day, where the largest number of buildings are open to the public, takes place on Sunday 2 November, but other selected events will take place throughout November and December.

• The Foster + Partners | The Civic Vision exhibition is open to Sydney Open ticket holders from Sunday 2 November to 21 December, at Parkline Place Tower, Level 2 Mezzanine