Begin Again. Fail Better – preliminary drawings in architecture

“Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett

Hand-drawing still occupies a central place in ar­chi­tec­tu­re. It acts as a reservoir of ideas, a source of in­spi­ra­ti­on or a playful way to discover images, acting as a distiller of thoughts, and opening the path to self-ex­plo­ra­ti­on.
This ex­hi­bi­ti­on high­lights the early drawings and sketches that give birth to an idea, whether they relate to a real project or are simply free ex­plo­ra­ti­on, aesthetic study, or utopian dream.
Taking its title from a famous quote by Samuel Beckett, the ex­hi­bi­ti­on shows drawing as part of the design process: ar­chi­tec­ts try, fail, try again, fail again, until they begin to move in the direction that will even­tual­ly become a building — or not.

Begin Again. Fail Better presents an ex­cep­tio­nal selection of 160 his­to­ri­cal works by Swiss and European ar­chi­tec­ts from the four major British and Swiss archival collec­tions, dating from the 20th century and going back to the 16th century.
At the same time, more than 50 Swiss ar­chi­tec­tu­re firms (among them also Graber Pulver) were invited to exhibit two drawings from their current practice, revealing something about their in­di­vi­du­al approach and un­der­stan­ding of ar­chi­tec­tu­re.