Architects who write about the discipline are an endangered species—but where would the profession be if it were to stop thinking about itself? Arno Lederer is one of those rare individuals: his work is wry, free of ideological preconceptions, and contrary to modernism’s faith in progress. Describing himself as an “amateur and lover of theory,” his work provides food for thought and discussion. In his eyes, not all theory is dull— and he’s as likely to quote Friedrich Schiller as Frederick the mouse. Drinnen ist anders als draußen is not a book to be ploughed through from start to finish; rather, it lends itself to being leafed through at leisure, flipping forwards and backwards as the reader desires. “Reading Arno Lederer’s thoughts on architecture—and, in doing so, considering architecture in all its complexity—means learning how to interpret and evaluate,” writes architecture critic Amber Sayah, who worked with Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir to select the texts in this volume from Lederer’s extensive body of work.
