Begin Again. Fail Better: Preliminary Drawings in Architecture engages with one of the principal activities of the architect in the process of design: drawing by hand. It explores the act of designing through a focus on beginnings. Architects try, fail, try again, fail better until they start to move in the direction that ultimately becomes a building – or not.


This book brings together some 180 preliminary architecture drawings. More than 50 contemporary Swiss architecture firms each contributed two pieces that reveal something of their individual approach and understanding of architecture. This selection is enhanced by historical works by Swiss and European architects that come from four significant British and Swiss archival collections, dating from the 20th and back to the 16th century. The illustrations are complemented by essays providing a critical and historical framework, as well as a conversation engaging with the conditions and importance of failure within the design process. Brief Interludes by international architects, archivists and teachers, introducing a range of perspectives, round out this beautiful volume.