We are pleased to share this Call for Papers for the workshop: Eric Mendelsohn’s Offices. International Networks of a Jewish Architect in the 20th Century
Venue: Bet Tfila – Research Center for Jewish Architecture in Europe, TU Braunschweig
Date: 16–17 September 2026
Deadline for submission, April 15, 2026
Networks may be based, for example, on private encounters and family relationships, long-standing friendships, shared periods of education, or professional cooperation. They may also involve dependencies and/or competition, collaboration within offices and on projects, or participation in institutions and organizations. Not all relationships within a network are equally strong or equally significant. Some actors were able to form a core, characterized, for instance, by similar experiences and/or decision-making authority. Others operated more at the periphery. At the same time, such positions were not necessarily permanent but could shift as personal relationships or professional frameworks changed. Challenges in researching and representing networks arise both from this diversity and from gaps in the available sources.
With regard to the life and work of the Jewish architect Erich (from 1939: Eric) Mendelsohn (1887–1953), it quickly becomes apparent that networks can take very different forms and display a wide range of variations in duration, intensity, function, and significance.
Mendelsohn initially ran a successful office in Berlin in the 1920s before emigrating to Great Britain in 1933 then to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1934, and subsequently to the United States in 1941.
The first workshop of the project “Erich Mendelsohn’s Offices. International Networks of a Jewish Architect in the 20th Century,” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), aims to collect and discuss themes and questions related to network research in architecture and architectural history. In particular, it focuses on developments, methodological approaches, forms of representation, as well as limitations and blank spots in network research.
Organizers invite contributions that address the micro and/or macro level.
Submissions may follow person-cantered approaches, focus on holistic networks, or concentrate on professional networks.
They also welcome questions that are suitable for expanding the immediate field of architectural history. This may include, for example, placing interdisciplinary networks at the centre of analysis or addressing the significance of networks in the context of migration experiences.
In addition, they are interested in contributions that deal with methods of data collection and forms of visually representing networks in publications (print and online) and/or in exhibition formats.
Furthermore, they seek contributions that will enable us to jointly discuss the possibilities and limitations of biographical network research and to approach its significance for architectural history in general.
The organizers invite submissions of abstracts for a paper in German or English, including a title and brief biographical information (maximum two pages in total), by April 15, 2026 at [email protected].
The program will be announced in mid-May 2026. Participants are kindly asked
to commit to attending the full duration of the workshop.
Click here for the full call with full details