Collapsing New Buildings

Collapsing New Buildings is the direct translation of the name of the 1980s German band Einstu?rzende Neubauten. After World War II, much of Germany was devastated from bombing. Neubauten refers to the cheap flimsy buildings that were built rapidly in West German cities after 1945. To kids growing up in the time after the war, these buildings were impermanent and thus collapsing. It is important to note that the verb is passive, indicating that the buildings collapse of their own accord, not from being actively torn down. This sentiment expresses the apathetic relationship Americans have had to their built environment during the years after the war in which much of the city has not been destroyed by bombing, but by real estate speculation. As spaces empty and expand based on where it is deemed money can be made, the people who live in them have a harder time relating to the space they live in.