The Absent Column

Modern architecture, and the fight for its value in the world, is brought into sharp focus in this documentary examining the battle over the preservation of former Prentice Women’s Hospital in downtown Chicago, designed by master modern architect Betrand Goldberg.

The owner of the building is Chicago institution Northwestern University, which intends to demolish the unique brutalist building, composed of a nine-story concrete cloverleaf tower cantilevered over a rectangular five-story podium.

The stage is set for what some preservationists believe will be a defining moment in the battle to preserve modern architecture, and poses the question, Who determines the future of the past?

Directed by journalist and Northwestern alumnus Nathan Eddy, the film made its world premiere at the Durban Film Festival in South Africa and subsequently screened at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam and the Architecture & Design Film Festival in New York.