Victor Gruen & Associates is a planning team of architects and engineers Actively engaged in projects in almost every state as well as abroad, the Gruen organization was chosen as architect for Southdale in 1952. They are together in the common belief that individual ingenuity coupled with disciplined teamwork offers the best approach to today's complex.Victor Gruen & Associates has steadily expanded the range of its activities. In the commercial field, the firm has progressed from the planning of individual shops and department stores to the development.Of special interest is Gruen's comprehensive study of shopping center planning, written in collaboration with Lawrence P. Smith, which comprised the entire June 1952 issue of PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE; and a traveling exhibition, "The Shopping Center of Tomorrow,"created for the American Federation of Arts andshown in leading museums throughout the United States and abroad. renewal of the heart of the city through along-range program aimed at solving traffic,parking, and urban rehabilitation problems.