Ruin value

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Olympiastadion
as it appeared in 1993

Ruin value (German: Ruinenwert) is the concept that a building be designed in such a way that if it eventually collapsed, it would leave behind aesthetically pleasing ruins that would last far longer without any maintenance at all. The idea was pioneered by German architect Albert Speer while planning for the 1936 Summer Olympics and published as "The Theory of Ruin Value" (Die Ruinenwerttheorie), although he was not its original inventor.[1][2] The intention did not stretch only to the eventual collapse of the buildings, but rather assumed such buildings were inherently better designed and more imposing during their period of use.

The idea was supported by Adolf Hitler, who planned for such ruins to be a symbol of the greatness of the Third Reich, just as Ancient Greek and Roman ruins were symbolic of those civilisations.

Albert Speer

The Parthenon as an example of aesthetically pleasing ruins
Aerial view of the imagined ruins of the Bank of England built by Sir John Soane (1830).
Imaginary View of the Grand Gallery of the Louvre in Ruins by Hubert Robert (1796).

In his memoirs,

Sir John Soane.[3] When he presented the bank's governors with three oil sketches of the planned building one of them depicted it when it would be new, another when it would be weathered, and a third what its ruins would look like a thousand years onward.[3]

Speer's memoirs reveal Hitler's thoughts about Nazi state architecture in relation to Roman imperial architecture:

Hitler liked to say that the purpose of his building was to transmit his time and its spirit to posterity. Ultimately, all that remained to remind men of the great epochs of history was their monumental architecture, he remarked. What then remained of the emperors of the Roman Empire? What would still give evidence of them today, if not their buildings […] So, today the buildings of the Roman Empire could enable Mussolini to refer to the heroic spirit of Rome when he wanted to inspire his people with the idea of a modern imperium. Our buildings must also speak to the conscience of future generations of Germans. With this argument Hitler also underscored the value of a durable kind of construction.

reshaped Berlin
.

Hitler accordingly approved Speer's recommendation that, in order to provide a "bridge to tradition" to future generations, modern "anonymous" materials such as

ferroconcrete
should be avoided in the construction of monumental party buildings wherever possible, since such materials would not produce aesthetically acceptable ruins. Thus, the most politically significant buildings of the Reich were intended, to some extent, even after falling into ruins after thousands of years, to resemble their Roman models.

Speer expressed his views on the matter in the

Haupttribüne as an ivy-covered ruin. The drawing pleased Hitler but scandalised his entourage.[4]

However, due to the onset of the

Second World War
, Nazi German architecture made extensive use of concrete.

Modern planned ruins

A more modern example of intended ruins were the planned warning signs for the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain (see Human Interference Task Force), which were intended to endure for 10,000 years, and yet still convey an enduring (if negative) impression on future generations: "Keep out. Don't dig here."[5]

Architect Charles Jencks mentions "Ruins in the Garden", a section of the Neue Staatsgalerie, as a postmodern subversion of ruin value.[6]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-415-88814-1
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-300-19747-1
    .
  3. ^ a b c Spotts, Frederic (2003). Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics. New York: The Overlook Press. p. 322.
  4. ISBN 978-0-271-00691-8
    .
  5. ^ Cruickshank, Douglas (May 10, 2002). "How Do You Design a 'Keep Out!' Sign to Last 10,000 Years?". Salon.com.
  6. JSTOR 25305377
    .
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