Chapter 1 – Reading 1 – The Terrazo Jungle
*Do the ‘Reading Comprehension’ questions on p.5 of the textbook first.
*Answer all questions below in complete sentences in your notebook. Think of your idea (answer) first and then work on the sentencing. Doing both at once is too difficult.
Basic Comprehension Questions
1. What are shopping malls a symbol of?
2. Why did Victor Gruen leave Austria?
3. What features made Gruen’s first design so unique (different)?
4. What was Gruen’s first mall? When did he build it?
5. What was Gruen’s most famous creation? Why?
6. How many stores did Southdale Mall have?
7. List 3 features that made Gruen’s malls different from other major shopping centers?
8. Did everyone like Gruen’s new Southdale mall?
9. How does Gruen’s idea influence us today?
Vocabulary
*Be sure to find the expression below in the reading and ‘read around’ it. This will help you to get a sense of the meaning. After matching it, make sure to read again so that you fully understand the meaning.
___ 1. Fledgling (line 8)
___ 2. Obtained passage (line 16)
___ 3. Boutique (line 23)
___ 4. Revolutionary (line 25)
___ 5. Critics raved (line 32)
___ 6. 163 acres (line 39)
___ 7. A decade and a half (line 41)
A. People loved it
B. Store
C. 15 years
D. A new an inexperienced (artist)
E. An important change (in new designs for stores)
F. A very large area or space
G. Got tickets (on a ship)
___ 1. Bulldozer break ground (line 43)
___ 2. Got a lot of nerve (line 44)
___ 3. Extroverted (line 49)
___ 4. Introverted (line 52)
___ 5. Radical (line 57)
___ 6. Approach (line 67)
___ 7. Two-tiered (lines 68-69)
A. Revolutionary (idea)
B. Idea
C. The beginning of a building’s construction
D. Stores face out (usually a street)
E. (The parking lot) covers more than one floor (of the building)
F. We are very brave
G. Stores face in (usually a mall)
___ 1. Enormous sculpted (line 71)
___ 2. Was a sensation (line 74)
___ 3. Publications (line 75)
___ 4. Integral (line 80)
___ 5. Simulated a magnetic urban downtown area in the middle of suburbia (lines 81-2)
___ 6. Ought to be there (line 85)
___ 7. Pretty paving (line 88)
A. Newspapers and magazines
B. Nicely decorated walkways
C. Was like having an attractive downtown but outside the city
D. Very large and fake (man-made)
E. Things that (ideally) should exist downtown
F. The critics raved
G. Important, basic (part)
___ 1. Concept (line 95)
___ 2. A big concrete box in a sea of parking (line 104)
___ 3. Anchor tenants (line 104)
___ 4. It does not seem like a historic building, which is precisely why it is one (lines 107-9)
___ 5. Multitiered (line 110)
___ 6. Regional (line 113)
___ 7. Reproduced so faithfully (line 120)
A. The design has become so popular that we don’t realize that Southdale mall is really a famous building because it was the first
B. Exactly copied
C. A large and somewhat ugly cement building surrounded by a large area for cars
D. (Every shopping center) outside the downtown area
E. The main stores
F. Has many floors or levels
G. Idea
Analysis Questions
*Answer all questions below in complete sentences in your notebook. Think of your idea (answer) first and then work on the sentencing. Doing both at once is too difficult.
1. What was Victor Gruen’s financial situation when he arrived in America?
2. How did Victor Gruen get his first job?
3. What was the reaction to Gruen’s first design?
4. Why was Northland an important step forward in Gruen’s career as an architect?
5. How long after arriving in America did Gruen build Northland, his first mall?
6. Building Southdale Mall, Gruen created a very new idea: an “introverted mall”. In your own words, explain the difference between “introverted” shopping and “extroverted” shopping.
7. Summarize the reaction of people to Gruen’s Southdale mall.
8. In your own words, explain “anchor stores”.