The Circle: Refugee Architects and Engineers in Britain

In their effort to relocate to Britain and rebuild their lives,  architects fleeing Nazi-dominated Europe were supported not only by the various refugee organisations active in the country but also by their British colleagues, especially through the activities of the RIBA Refugee Committee and the Architects Refugee Fund.

However, the climate was not always favourable to these newcomers: antisemitism was not uncommon in 1930s Britain, and in addition part of the profession saw them as competitors in a period of great economic uncertainty. In reality, émigré architects often struggled to find employment because their qualifications, even those obtained in the most prestigious architecture schools in Europe, were not recognised in Britain.

In order to establish a network of support and solidarity among refugee architects and engineers, in 1943 some of them formed the London-based association ‘The Circle’, which remained active until 1968. It provided an environment that allowed its members to preserve and nurture elements of their original cultures, but at the same time encouraged them to take an active part in the public life of the profession in their adoptive country. This presentation by Valeria Carullo will outline the context in which The Circle was founded and the role it played in bringing together displaced architects from different European countries.

Valeria Carullo is Curator of the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection at the Royal Institute of British Architects. An architect by background, she lectures and writes on both architectural and photographic subjects. In 2019 she published Moholy-Nagy in Britain 1935-1937 (Lund Humphries). Valeria has curated and co-curated several exhibitions, and is the lead researcher of the ongoing RIBA Refugee Committee project, whose first major output was the international conference Displaced Lives: Architects Seeking Refuge on the Brink of WWII (RIBA, June 2024). The RIBA Refugee Committee Papers online database was launched earlier this year.

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Image: Detail of menu for meal organised by The Circle, 1966 © Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Collections