Postwar modernist buildings currently have a lifespan of some 40 years in Germany. Many have already been torn down. But now people are starting to ask whether this type of architecture is worth preserving.
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I hope that postwar buildings around the world can be preserved. I do understand that some buildings may be in such poor condition that replacing them may be cheaper, though it is worthwhile to try to save as many as possible.
Socialist architecture for the most part is dreary. Soviet style housing blocks should be demolished as well as the drab concrete slabs of buildings that most socialist architecture is. While some structures in that architectural style should be saved, the vast majority should be demolished.
Those Germans who wish to demolish these structures must realize the fossil-fuel energy input that was required to originally construct them. This is the embodied energy, and it is significant. When a usable structure is torn down, it wastes the original energy investment, and it often wastes large amounts of steel, concrete, glass, plaster, and other materials, because much of this material is not economically or practically recyclable.
The bottom line: Do not demolish useful structures that were built in the postwar period, unless they are unsafe.
Finally, as a 5th-generation American, I hereby express great sorrow that so many German cities were bombed in World War 2. I am extremely familiar with all of the arguments for and against this, but I still hate the idea of bombing German cities ---and killing & maiming thousands of innocent civilians.
Over the long run, I believe that Germany should quietly develop the world's best anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems--not from Amerika. You might not be able to rely on existing defense relationships forever. It is time to plan for the long-term (2050 and beyond) defense of Germany now.
THE HORROR!!! NOOOOOO NEINNNN I would rather kill myself than to see these buildings kept around
History is good reconstruction is vital to maintain pre-war buildings must be keep and held dear... the infection of modern and post-war buildings disgust and horrify historians
they are amazing inspirations i loved to stumble into them while in berlin