The Last Column: A Critical Perspective on Architecture, Memory, and the Modern Memorial

The fall of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 shook the world’s understanding of security and permanence, and cast the role of the architect as the creator of large buildings in a new and uncertain perspective. In the aftermath of the attacks, the skeletal remains of architecture were not only cleared away, but were used to process the trauma of the attacks. This is most explicitly seen in the funeral proceedings conferred upon the Last Column, a structural steel column that became an impromptu memorial for the workers and first responders at Ground Zero. This puzzling event raises urgent questions about the role of architecture as it pertains to memory and memorial.
This paper explores the funeral of the Last Column through the lens of the ruin, the body, and the superimposition of the self onto the built environment, taking a critical look at the intersection of memory and architecture. Through a critical analysis of more permanent memorials such as Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Michael Arad’s Reflecting Absence, in contrast to improvised and bottom-up forms of memorialization, this paper posits that the Last Column was the first of a new memorial typology: the modern memorial as a timely object instead of a timeless one. In light of the improvised and fleeting nature of this new typology, it is also posited that the architect must find a new niche to occupy in this memorial space, as permanence becomes less and less certain in the modern era.