Victor Gruen Books
Victor Gruen was an Austrian-American architect, primarily recognized as a pioneer in the design of shopping malls in the United States. He was also noted for his urban revitalization proposals, which he articulated in his writings and applied to master plans for various American cities. Gruen championed the prioritization of pedestrians over cars in urban cores, and he designed the first outdoor pedestrian mall in the United States. His architectural and urbanist visions aimed to create more humane and functional cityscapes.
Victor Gruen, a pivotal figure in 20th-century architecture, is recognized as the father of the U.S. shopping mall. In spring 1979, shortly before his death, he began reconstructing his life story, which is now available in English for the first time. The narrative opens in Vienna in 1938, marking the turning point in Gruen’s life as he narrowly escaped the Nazi regime. A few years later, as a Jewish refugee in postwar America, he sought to recreate the vibrancy of Vienna’s city center, ultimately inventing the shopping mall. His Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota, became the first fully enclosed shopping center in the U.S. Gruen then adapted this concept for economically neglected urban areas, advocating for pedestrian zones and striving for an uncompromising urban ideal. The account captures Gruen’s humor and reflects on the complex forces shaping the postwar transformation of American cities. It places his experiences in a broader social and political context, revealing his complicated role in American architectural culture. The book concludes with afterwords by his children and an insightful essay by Anette Baldauf on Gruen's enduring legacy.
The Heart of Our Cities
The Urban Crisis, Diagnosis and Cure
Victor Gruen (1903-1980) zählt zu den einflussreichsten Architekten des 20. Jahrhunderts: Beim Versuch, in der US-amerikanischen Vorstadt seine Geburtsstadt Wien zu rekonstruieren, erfand der Emigrant jüdischer Herkunft die Shopping Mall. „Ich weigere mich, Alimente für diese Bastardprojekte zu bezahlen, sie haben unsere Städte zerstört“, schrieb Gruen später angesichts der Mallisierung der Städte und setzte sich für Fußgängerzonen und das Konzept der zellularen Stadt ein. Zurück in Europa warnte er vor dem Modell Amerika und forderte ein Verständnis von Architektur als verantwortungsbewusste Umweltgestaltung. Die Autobiografie rekonstruiert ein Jahrhundert Stadtentwicklung und bezeugt eine visionäre Kraft, die, beflügelt von Gesellschaftskritik ebenso wie Gigantomanie, das Urbane kompromisslos verteidigt. Mit Beiträgen von Peggy Gruen und Michael Gruen.
Das Überleben der Städte
- 351 pages
- 13 hours of reading