When Victor Gruen designed the world’s first enclosed
shopping mall in 1956, his vision was considered a noble one. Despising the
grow of the sporadic American suburbs, Gruen had great visions for urban planning.
Gruen thought the American suburbs needed a ‘meeting place', which incorporated
theatres, schools, cafés, and shops, to make them akin to European city
centres, such as the Ringstrasse in Gruen’s native Vienna.
The opening of the Southdale Centre in Edina, Minnesota defined the beginning
of a new era and it was immediately recognised as changing the way that people
would shop. This resulted in the Southdale Centre receiving a huge amount of
press coverage. The appearance of the Southdale Centre was comparable to a fortress
from the outside, built without windows, the centre maintained a steady temperature
of 21 degrees all year round.
