Mohamed Derbal: Space, Time and Community: German Architectural Discourse and the Search for National Unity, 1890-1914

Supervisor: Dr Maximilian Sternberg

Research overview:

Mohamed Derbal's research investigates how Wilhelmine architectural discourse served as a nation-building tool. This is exemplified by the writings and activism of Hermann Muthesius, as well as by the relationship to history in late nineteenth-century German architectural theory. Adopting a transnational perspective, Derbal explores the construction of nationalised visual cultures within the context of industrial modernity. The study draws primarily on architectural and design reviews of the period, such as the Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, Gartenstadt, and Dekorative Kunst. These reviews are regarded as both integral to architectural practice and exemplary discourses on modernity. A particular focus of the thesis is on the optimistic, or at least pragmatic, attitudes towards the city in Germany. While many scholars have emphasised cultural despair, there was, in fact, a broad range of responses to urbanisation in Germany—from pragmatic approaches to mitigating its negative effects to those advocating for forward-looking, or at least future-oriented, civic pride. Thus, Derbal’s research aims to place these reactions, alongside their more sceptical counterparts, within the cultural and historical legitimisation project of Wilhelmine modernism.

Biography:

Mohamed Derbal began his PhD in October 2020. He is supervised by Dr Maximilian Sternberg and is a Wolfson Scholar at Peterhouse. He was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University for the academic year 2021–2022, and a Visiting Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History in Munich in 2022. Prior to his PhD, Mohamed earned an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies from Cambridge, an MA in History from the École normale supérieure, and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and History of Art from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He currently teaches History and Theory of Architecture to undergraduate students.