A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites
Introduction Background Americans fell in love with the modernday shopping mall. These architectural cathedrals to the modern-day capitalists we’re places to exercise their rights and be a part of firsthand the supply and demand that drives economies. Until recently, brick and mortar retail shopping has been a neglected theme in architecture and urban design strategies. The modern shopping mall, a heavenly place for anyone from the 50’s all the way through to the 2000’s. The shopping mall was a place to not only pick up the latest fashion, but also, to hang out, meet friends, catch a movie, and even grab some food. The shopping mall that we have all grown up to know was the brainchild of Mr. Victor Gruen. Gruen was born in Vienna, Austria in 1904 to a Jewish family. Gruen was born, Victor Grübam, decided to leave Vienna in 1938 and move to New York City.1 During his first few years in New York City he was designing shopping storefronts, which was no easy task. Retail stores could not get people into the store, but with the help of Gruen, with his elaborate store fronts with beautifully lit glass facades and unique shaped openings, store owners would be able to keep the doors open. The mesmerizing effect of the store fronts dragging people towards them, into the store, where they would then spend their money was known as the Gruen Effect. Gruen’s store front designs took him across the country, and with
this time driving, there was much notice on the dependency of the automobile. People spent hours in the cars, driving from home to work, and vice versa. Gruen saw that there was this missing element for people, one that a home or office space couldn’t offer them. He envisioned a place with courtyards full of greenery and shops surrounding these courtyards, a place that got people out of their cars. These places would be only accessible by walking. Victor Gruen absolutely despised the car, the car took people away from the use of mass transit, and hindered people’s health and safety. The outcome of this building is the modern-day shopping mall, but not necessarily that ones we see today. His vision is a mixeduse metropolis filled with apartments, offices, medical centers, shopping centers, childcare facilities, and even bomb shelters. Gruen dreamed about this vision long before he was giving the opportunity to design one, but one day that opportunity presented itself. The first shopping mall to hit the United States was in Edina, Minnesota in 1956. Then, Southdale Center was the first climate-controlled shopping experience that offered a large center courtyard with sky light apertures2. A large forum like experience was achieved by turning in all the store fronts to the center and directing peoples travel to the ends and through the spaces.
1 Gruen, Victor, et al. Shopping Town Designing the City in Suburban America. Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2017. p. 5 2 Wall, Alexander. Victor Gruen: from Urban Shop to New City. Actar, 2005. p. 92
16 | Introduction
