Architecture presents itself to the public through iconic buildings, photographs on glossy paper, and the prizes and awards that projects and their architects receive. The precarious everyday reality of architects is hidden behind the dazzling presentation of their achievements.

The project Price of Architecture created by Eli Havla attempts to highlight the price paid by all those who strive to fulfill society’s vision of architectural success and professional recognition. (It translates the effort expended in professional practice into overtime, working weekends, health complications, creative workarounds for legislative requirements, departures from the profession, and other consequences of precarious working conditions.) The exhibition presents these experiences on imaginary receipts—long strips of fabric that, in a stark, minimalist form, share data about work in the field.

“To embroider on a project” is a term used in the architectural profession when a design is being finalized. These are typically minor adjustments that do not alter the design’s essence. Similarly, architecture itself is often described as a superstructure or added value to construction—as something seemingly superfluous. Literal embroidery materializes these concepts while also serving as a way to process accumulated experiences and rewrite established patterns. In its collective form, it transforms into a healing workshop format.

This process-oriented project aims to raise awareness of working conditions in architecture and in the cultural sector, not only in the Czech context. It builds on several years of data collection presented, among other places, at the Czech exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023. Through data analysis, it comments on the price creators pay for their work and further develops this data through (endless) collective embroidery.