Education
2005/2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA Ph.D. in History and Theory of Architecture Doctoral Thesis: “The Invention of the Historic City - Building the Past in East Berlin 1970-1990”
2001-2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA Doctoral studies in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture
1999-2001 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Master of Arts in Urban Planning (June 2001) Master’s thesis: “World Cities Online – City Representation on the Internet”
1989-1996 University of the Arts, Berlin Undergraduate and graduate studies in Fine Arts (six year program in sculpture and media arts) Degree: Meisterschüler (Master of Fine Arts, February 1996)
Languages
German (mother tongue), Spanish (C2), Polish (C1), French (C1), Scottish Gaelic (B1)
Employment
since 2010 Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art Head of Architectural History and Urban Studies
2009-2010 Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, Bonn/ Berlin (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung, BBSR) Project manager, tasks include the management of the federal support program for the UNESCO world heritage sites in Germany and of the German contribution for the 8th Biennial of Architecture in São Paulo
2006-2008 Center for Metropolitan Studies, Technische Universität Berlin Guest professor of architectural and urban history
Awards and Fellowships
2018/19 German Historical Institute Warsaw (D/PL) Six-month grant as a visiting scholar to research “Postmodern Architecture in Poland”
2014-16 Leverhulme Trust (UK) Two-year research grant for “The New Tenement”
2013-14 University of Puerto Rico/ National Endowment for the Humanities (USA) Six-months invitation as a visiting professor and researcher, financed by the National Endowment of the Humanities, teaching (in Spanish) and research
2013 Royal Society of Edinburgh (UK) Research grant to study “Balmoral Castle in a European Context”
2012 Book Prize of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) for Tower and Slab („best book on planning history written in English and based on original research”)
2007 Geschwister-Böhringer-Ingelheim Foundation (Germany) Grant to publish my book „Berlin, DDR-Neo-historisch“ in German
2007 Fritz-Thyssen Foundation (D) one-year research grant for the research of tower block developments in Europe, America, and Asia
2005 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council, D) Summer Fellowship to complete my doctoral dissertation, research at the Center for Metropolitan Studies Berlin
2005 Center for European Studies, Harvard University (USA) research grant for doctoral research in East Germany
2004 Society of Architectural Historians (USA) Opler Award for academic publication of young researcher
2003-2004 Studienstiftung des Berliner Abgeordnetenhauses (Foundation of the Berlin Parliament, Germany, D) one-year grant to conduct research in East Berlin
2001-2005 MIT Department of Architecture (USA) five-year grant to complete doctoral studies in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture (full tuition fees plus salary as a teaching assistant)
2000-2001 University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Urban Planning (USA) one-year tuition grant for academic merits
Conferences (main organizer, including fundraising)
2019 “Postmodern Architecture and Political Change – Poland and Beyond” (German Historical Institute, Warsaw)
2016 „Back to the City – Urbanism, Density, Housing 1976-2016“ (Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow)
2013 „The New Tenement – Tradition and Modernity“ (Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow)
2010 „The Heritage of Mass Housing in Europe“ (Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow)
2007 „Concealing the Designer – the Illusion of the Natural City in the 20th Century“ (Technische Universität Berlin)
Academic/ Professional
Since 2009 Book Review Editor-in-Chief for Planning Perspectives (Taylor&Francis)
Regular peer reviewer for the Journal of Architecture, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Planning Perspectives, Footprint, Journal of Urban History as well as for Routledge Book proposals.
Member of International Planning History Society, Society of Architectural Historians, European Architectural History Network, Docomomo Scotland