The Absent Column

EDITOR

This documentary explores the forces at play between the city of Chicago, architectural preservationists, and Northwestern University, the owner of Bertrand Goldberg's one-of-a-kind Prentice Women's hospital, which is slated for demolition. In the nation's pre-eminent city of modern architecture, how important is it to preserve buildings unique to the world, and at what point must the old be cleared away for the new? Who determines what we do with the future of the past?