Architecture is the art of building, but the act of building is a sober, pragmatic process. In their early stages, construction sites are raw locations. There’s a lot of digging, pumping, shaking, drilling. A delicate blend of skill and force, dexterity and machine power lays the groundwork for the finer trades. Then comes the cladding, filling, plastering and painting. The complexity of the construction process makes it look like a huge mess, but behind it all lie many different phases and systems of order superimposed over one another. Each trade operates according to its own logic, and yet is part of a larger whole.

In his latest work Geordnetes Chaos (Well-Arranged Chaos), architectural photographer Robert Herrmann devotes himself not to finished buildings in all their splendour and newness, but to the interior of buildings in the making. Over a period of three years and at various construction sites, he shot a wide range of photographs that captivate the viewer with their static clarity and occasionally convey a dry romanticism or bring the absurd into focus in a laconic manner.