Best Book in Israel Studies winner

Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler, Architectural Culture in British Mandate Palestine,1917-1947 (Edinburgh University Press, 2020). Research and production of the book were funded by generous grants from the Israel Science Foundation.

Why did you write this book? / How did you come to writing this book?

"The book developed from my PhD dissertation and from my growing interest in the multifacetedness of modern architecture, in the relations between Jerusalem's communities and identification of a significant gap in our knowledge of Jerusalem's mandatory architecture."

What did you learn from writing this book?

"I learned that cities and regions don't have to be defined only by their conflicts and, after working on the book, the role of architecture in constructing national identity and communal identity seems to me even more important than when I embarked on this project. I hope that this is reflected in its pages and images."

Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler (Ph.D. Tel-Aviv University, 2005) is a senior lecturer of architecture and visual culture at Sapir Academic College. At Ben Gurion University of the Negev, she is a teaching fellow. Her main research areas are the modern architecture of Israel/Palestine and Israeli visual culture. In addition to Architectural Culture in British Mandate Jerusalem, 1917-1948 (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), she co-edited Israel as A Modern Architectural Experimental Lab, 1948-1978 (Intellect Books, 2020) with Anat Geva. Her research has been published in numerous journals, including Israel Studies, Israel Studies Review, The Journal of Architecture and Design Issues. From 2014 she serves as co-chair of the DoCoMoMo Israel branch, and from 2020 she serves as the head of the ICOMOS-Israel Committee for Twentieth Century Heritage.