Olaf Grawert

So on January 10, Paris Hilton shared a video of her house destroyed in the LA fire.

Walking through the ruins, heartbroken, she said, what breaks her heart even more is knowing that this isn't just her story.

Because so many people have lost everything.

And it's not just walls and roofs that the fire demolished.

It's the memories and the stories that made those houses homes.

Over one million people liked her post, showing sympathy and support not only for her loss, but for the very idea behind it.

Yet, there's something that most of us don't realize, which is that every minute, somewhere in Europe, a house is demolished.

Every minute.

And it's not by wind, floods or fire, but by human hands.

And honestly, this is something I don't get, because it's not only the walls and the roofs that we demolish, it's the memories, the communities and the sense of belonging that we demolish too.

And all of it at the cost of the people and the planet.

So the question is, why do we even demolish buildings?

As an architect who works on renovation, I can tell you it's not because these buildings are broken and it's not because they cannot be renovated or fixed.

It's also not because we want to save energy or build better buildings for those who currently live there.

In one word, profit.

Today, real estate is the most valuable asset in the world.

So a majority of the global money flows into the buying and selling of property.

And I ask you, what promises most profit?

New buildings, central apartments and trophy offices.

In the logic of money, the old can never beat the new.