Mansfeld was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1912.

[1] While still a child, he moved with his family to Berlin, Germany.

He began studying architecture in 1931 at the Technische Hochschule Berlin[2] (now Technische Universität Berlin) but, with the rise of the Nazis to power, he moved in 1933 to Paris, France, where he completed his studies in 1935 at the École Spéciale d'Architecture, as a student of the architect, Auguste Perret, a pioneer of concrete construction.

[1] In 1949, Mansfied joined the faculty of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he taught for over forty years[1] and was Dean of Faculty of Architecture from 1954 to 1956.

He died on 15 March 2004, at his home, designed by him, in central Carmel, Haifa, Israel.