godišnjak / yearbook 2012/2013
Arhitektonski fakultet, sveučilište u zagrebu
Faculty of Architecture, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB
Moderna i suvremena svjetska arhitektura 20.st. / Modern and Contemporary Architecture in the 20th century
Victor Gruen
Victor Gruen
Začetnik modernih trgovina Preddiplomski studij / Undergraduate study Programme Godina / year
Semestar / semester
3.5. student
mentor
Mirta Rusan
Aleksandar Homadovski
Victor David Grünbaum rođen je 1903. godine u Beču,u Austriji. Arhitekt koji se školovao na bečkoj Akademiji primijenjenih umjetnosti najpoznatiji je po svojim shopping centrima diljem Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i obnovama gradskih jezgri. Nakon završetka studija neko je vrijeme radio u uredu Melcher and Steiner, a potom osnovao svoj arhitektonski ured. Tih je godina radio nekoliko uspješnih projekata za dućane bečkog Ringa. Međutim,budući da je bio Židov i po političkim stavovima socijalist, 1938. je,nedugo nakon njemačke okupacije Beča,emigrirao u SAD i svoje prezime promijenio u Gruen. Tamo je karijeru započeo iznova, a jedan od prvih značajnijih projekata bilo je uređenje dućana Lederer de Paris i Ciro’s Jewelry, nakon čega su uslijedili i projekti poput onih za lanac trgovina Grayson-Robinson. Nakon uspješnog shopping centra Milliron’s iz 1947. uslijedila su značajna ostvarenja poput shopping centara Northland,Southdale,Midtown Plaza ili Randhurst Shopping Center, te revitalizacija gradske jezgre grada Kalamazoo. U svojim planiranjima gradova,gradskih jezgri i shopping centrima Gruen je uvijek želio u Ameriku donjeti nešto europskoga. Dok je uživao u europskim gradovima,kulturi i mentalitetu,toliko je i prezirao američke gradove,kulturu i mentalitet. Bio je vrlo kritičan prema Amerikancima i žalio se kako je njihov konzumerizam upropastio njegove prvotne ideje kupovine kao zabave i ljudskog zajedništva. U svojim je knjigama kritizirao neplanirani rast američkih gradova i američki mentalitet potrošnje,iako je svoju karijeru izgradio upravo na shopping centrima. Također,upravo je njegov novi tip zatvorenog shopping centra postao zastupljen,ne samo u Americi,nego i u cijelom svijetu. Iako komercijalni arhitekt,sa svojim je projektima uvijek težio stvaranju okoliša koji bi na neki način zbližavao ljude,a jedino mu je taj nevoljeni komercijalni sektor pružio mogućnost za realizaciju svojih ideja. 1970. je osnovao Victor Gruen Foundation for Environmental Planning jer se nadao da će na taj način pomoći edukaciji Amerikanaca. Bio je uvjeren da će ljudskost,zajedno s prirodom izumrijeti,i rješenje je vidio u sistematskom planiranju gradova i ljudskog okoliša. Nakon tridesetogodišnje uspješne karijere u Americi,Gruen se vratio u voljeni mu Beč, gdje je i umro 1980. Bio je,možda ne na način na koji je on to zamišljao,no bez sumnje jedan od najutjecajnijih arhitekata 20.stoljeća i dobitnik nagrade City of Vienna award for architecture za cjelokupni doprinos.
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Kabinet za modernu i suvremenu arhitekturu
Founder of Modern Trade
Victor David Grünbaum was born in 1903 in Vienna, Austria. An architect, he studied at the Vienna Academy of Applied Arts and is best known for his shopping centers, built throughout the United States, and the renewal of city centers. After graduating, for a while he worked in the office of Melcher and Steiner, and then founded his own architecture firm. During those years, he produced a number of successful projects for shops along the Vienna Ring. As he was a Jew, and a socialist, in 1938, shortly after the German occupation of Vienna he emigrated to the U.S. and changed his name to Gruen. There he rebuilt his career, and one of his first major projects was the design of the Lederer de Paris and Ciro’s Jewelry stores, followed by projects such as those for the Grayson – Robinson chain store. After successfully completing the shopping center Milliron‘s in 1947, his further significant achievements include the shopping centers Northland, Southdale, Midtown Plaza or The Randhurst Shopping Center, as well as the revitalization of the town centre in Kalamazoo. In his planning of cities, city centers and shopping centers, Gruen’s wish was to import something European to America. Whereas he enjoyed European cities, their culture and mentality, he despised the U.S. He was very critical of the Americans and complained that their consumerism had ruined his initial idea of shopping as a form of entertainment and human gathering. In his books he was critical of the unplanned growth of American cities and the mentality of spending, even though it was through shopping malls that he built up his career. It was his new type of indoor shopping center that became popular in America, but also worldwide. Although a commercial architect, his projects always aspired to include an environment that would in some ways bring people together. Though he hated the commercial sector, it was exactly this sector that provided him with the opportunity for implementing his ideas. In 1970 he founded the Victor Gruen Foundation for Environmental Planning in the hope of helping to educate Americans. He was convinced that humanity, along with nature, would become extinct, and he saw the solution to this in the systematic planning of cities and the environment. After a successful career in America for thirty years, Gruen returned to his beloved Vienna, where he died in 1980. He was, perhaps not in the way he imagined, one of the most influential architects of the 20th century and received the City of Vienna award for architecture for his overall contribution.
Section of Modern and Contemporary Architecture