World Architecture Festival (WAF) has revealed its seminar program at this year's festival, which will be held on November 28-30, 2018 in Amsterdam. The world's most influential architects, designers and commentators will join WAF to discuss "Identity". 

Ghanian-British architect David Adjaye, Caroline Bos of UN Studio, Sir Peter Cook, Kees Christiaanse, Founder - KCAP Architects & Planners, Prof. Leslie Lokko - Head of Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, and Li Xiadong, Professor, School of Architecture, Co-Founder, Gramazio Kohler Architects are among speakers at this year's WAF stage. 

The annual World Architecture Festival is taking place at RAI Amsterdam this year between 28-30 November, and World Architecture Community is an official Media Partner for the event.

In this context, World Architecture Community, in collaboration with WAF, offers to its Professional Members 10% discounted tickets over regular festival prices during registration! All you have to do is to upgrade your World Architecture Community membership to Professional here or visit your WAC Settings page and send us ([email protected]) an email to get your promo code for your WAF registration!

David Adjaye to speak at WAF's 2018 stage. Image © Ed Reeve

WAF is the only architecture event where keynote talks from the industry's most influential figures sit alongside live judging presentations from over 500 award finalists. The festival provides global networking with more than 2000 delegates, an international product exhibition, exclusive fringe events including Amsterdam architecture tours, social events and much more!

David Adjaye, Principal at Adjaye Associates, will give a lecture on November 29, 2018 at WAF's 2018 stage. 

Caroline Bos to talk at WAF's 2018 stage. Image © Inga Powilleit

Caroline Bos, co-founder of UN Studio, will be taking place at a panel discussion held with Andres Ramirez, Managing Director, PLANE—SITE and Ippolito Pestellini, Partner of OMA. The panel discussion is titled "Exploring local identities". 

WAF recently released a strong shortlist for the 2018 World Architecture Festival Awards. Global company WATG and Wimberly Interiors, Genius Loci from Indonesia, Bjarke Ingels Group's Lego House in Denmark and Studio Chris Fox from Australia and Shanwei Weng from Beijing are listed among this year's shortlist.

Peter Cook will give a keynote at WAF's 2018 stage. Image courtesy of Bartlett School of Architecture

Accliamed British Architect, Professor and Writer Sir Peter Cook will deliver a special lunch time lecture on November 28, 2018. Cook's keynote titled "Nutters of the North" will focus on invention and creativity inspired by the backdrop of the North Sea. This session will look at UK, Netherlands, Nordic, Baltic and Belgium architecture from the nineteenth century up to today.

WAF and its sister event INSIDE World Festival of Interiors will take place in Amsterdam simultaneously between  28-30 November, 2018. This year's shortlist includes 77 projects that will compete to be crowned World Interior of the Year 2018.

Kees Christiaanse, Founder, KCAP Architects & Planners. Image courtesy of KCAP

Kees Christiaanse, Founder of KCAP Architects & Planners, will deliver a talk on November 29, 2018 at WAF's 2018 stage. His talk entitled "Inversion and Subtraction in Urban Design" will explore a method to preserve and revive local identities and characteristics with the help of the resilience of site constraints. These constraints work as braking factors against generic urbanization.

All winners from shortlisted projects will be announced as live during the event, and the Super Jury will evaluate the winners from each category for the coveted titled World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Interior of the Year. This year's Super Jury is comprised of David Adjaye, Nathalie de Vries, Manuelle Gautrand, Mohsen Mostafavi and Li Xiaodong.

Prof. Leslie Lokko, Head of Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg. Image courtesy of The Architectural Review

Leslie Lokko will deliver a talk on November 29, 2018 at WAF's 2018 stage. Lokko's talk is titled "What Pliny Said". Just over two thousand years ago, Pliny the Elder uttered the following: 'ex Africa semper aliquid novi.' (There is always something new out of Africa). 

In this forty-minute talk, Prof Lesley Lokko, Head of School at the newly-formed Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, will talk about the work of a pioneering group of African students whose three-year design research project, Créoles, has produced imaginative and innovative ways to explore the difficult theme of cultural identity in architecture. 

Drawing on their visits to the island nations of Zanzibar, Cabo Verde and Réunion, their design projects for way-stations, embassies and ministries all point to a much-anticipated emerging African confidence in architectural education and practice.

Li Xiadong, Professor, School of Architecture , Co-Founder, Gramazio Kohler Architects. Image courtesy of DR

Li Xiadong, Professor, School of Architecture, Co-Founder, Gramazio Kohler Architects will give a lecture on November 28, 2018 at WAF's 2018 stage. His talk titled "Identity: Towards A Reflexive Regionalist Practice of Architecture" will explore reflexive regionalist architecture. 

I have no intention here to promote the ‘form’ as a blueprint. It, at most, opens up possibilities. This is why that I dare not to use the word "contemporary Chinese architecture" to describe my practice, but "reflexive regionalist architecture". 

Here, to be “reflexive” as in ‘dialogue with’ a situation, through which, an objective understanding of the situation could be established; to be “regional” is here different from the ‘picturesque’ or, ‘iconic’ regionalist architecture (by which, architecture was understood as a tool to demonstrate a cultural presence as a fixed entity), what I have been proposing is to understand the “regional” as comprehensive, dynamic and sustainable ‘condition’ of place – a tabula rasa, that solutions could be based on and emerged from.

See the full seminar program of WAF here, including other prominent speakers Reinier de Graaf, Partner at Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Aaron Betsky, Simon Henley, John Wardle and many more...

Alongside 33 award categories, the WAF will also host new Prizes which are free to enter, increasing your chances to be shortlisted. Architectural Photography Awards, The 'Amsterdam Prize', Best Use of Colour Prize, Small Project of the Year Prize, WAF Research Programme and WAFX Prize are just few of them. 

First, upgrade your membership on your WAC account, send us ([email protected]) an email to get your promo code and then join the festival and book your pass today.

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