thumb|The 1936 Berlin [[Olympic Stadium (Berlin)|Olympiastadion as it appeared in 1993]]
Ruin value () 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. 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
thumb|The [[Parthenon as an example of aesthetically pleasing ruins]]
thumb|Aerial view of the imagined ruins of the Bank of England built by Sir John Soane (1830).
thumb|Imaginary View of the Grand Gallery of the Louvre in Ruins by [[Hubert Robert (1796).]]
In his memoirs, Albert Speer claimed to have invented the idea, which he referred to as the theory of Ruin Value (Gr. Ruinenwerttheorie). It was supposedly an extension of Gottfried Semper's views about using "natural" materials and the avoidance of iron girders. In reality it was a much older concept, even becoming a Europe-wide Romantic fascination at one point. Predecessors include a "new ruined castle" built by the Landgraf of Hesse-Kassel in the 18th century, and the designs for the Bank of England built in the 19th century produced by Sir John Soane.
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."
Architect Charles Jencks mentions "Ruins in the Garden", a section of the Neue Staatsgalerie, as a postmodern subversion of ruin value.
See also
- Fascist architecture
- Mausoleum
- Memorial
- Nazi architecture
- Time capsule
- Folly