CAPPA Gallery, CAPPA 206

The UTA College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs will exhibit the internationally traveling collection of models constructed by the office of RT+Q Architects.



LC150+ is an exhibition of Singapore-based RT+Q Architects’ private collection of nearly one hundred sixty models of buildings and projects designed by the renowned Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner and writer Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier (1887-1965). Originally an in-house office project, the collection was publicly exhibited for the first time in 2021 and triggered its rapid growth. Shortly thereafter it began an international exhibition tour, traveling to universities in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia, through Europe, and into Canada and the United States in 2023.



In August and September the collection will be shown at UTA, kicking off its lecture and exhibition series with a show entitled "Le Corbusier: Presence and Transference." Multiple events are scheduled as part of this exhibition, including an Opening Reception and Discussion on Wednesday September 4 at 6pm. This event features a discussion of the significance of Le Corbusier in schools of architecture today. Featured guests and Le Corbusier experts are Rene Tan, the director & co-founder RT+Q Architects, and Dr. Mehrdad Hadighi, the Stuckeman Professor in Advanced Studies and Professor of Architecture at Penn State University. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. David Franco, the newly appointed director of the UTA School of Architecture.



The collection is impressive in every sense. Experiencing in a single room more than one hundred fifty models of Le Corbusier’s buildings and projects is striking. In effect, visitors can virtually see the architect's complete work at a glance, from the early work at La Chaux-des-Fonds to the Church of Firminy completed posthumously. The display also contains formulations like the Dom-Ino concept, non architectural projects such as the Voiture Minimum, a model interpretation of Le Corbusier’s well known sketch “the four compositions,” and schemes of urban projects such as the master plans for St. Die and Chandigarh.



The exhibit includes multiple versions of some of Le Corbusier’s most iconic buildings. Many of the high-modern villas of the 1920s which were part of the initial model collection were rebuilt in recent years using 3D printing technology. There are also several Unités d’Habitation, from three different versions of Marseille to smaller-scale editions of those at Nantes, Strasbourg, Berlin, Brye-en-Foret and Firminy. Comparative models of several other buildings such as Ronchamp and La Tourette are included, and didactic models such as Le Corbusier’s own formulation of his famous Five Points for a New Architecture are illustrated through a model of Maison Cook.



The formative goal of building these models comes full circle as they become powerful pedagogical instruments for teachers and students alike. Rene Tan is the “mastermind” behind this project, and there is no doubt that it would not have been possible for him to develop and sustain it without the commitment and engagement of his Singapore-based office and a veritable legion of dedicated interns and young collaborators. This will be the organizing topic of the Exhibition Opening at the CAPPA Gallery on September 4th. The show will be completed on September 21, continuing its tour through the U.S., Central and South America.

Arts & Culture