Rem Koolhaas, world renowned Dutch and founder of OMA, has been added to the compelling speaker line up list of the World Architecture Festival 2018 in Amsterdam, alongside Jeanne Gang, Francine Houben, Li Xiadong, Anni Sinnemäki, Professor Sir Peter Cook, Marieke van Doorninck and Sir David Adjaye.

Koolhaas will give the closing keynote address at the WAF's 2018 stage in Amsterdam on 30 November 2018. He will follow a stellar line-up at the three-day event, which will run from 28 -30 November at RAI Amsterdam.

The festival’s speaking programme will also culminate with a live interview of Koolhaas conducted by architectural historian and cultural theorist Charles Jencks, focusing on the current and future notions of global architectural identity.

Charles Jencks was in conversation with Pierre de Meuron at WAF 2017. Image courtesy of Crichton Foundation

World Architecture Community is an official Media Partner for the event and will be bringing you the hottest topics, key discussions and keynote sessions from the three-day event.

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!

Speakers at World Architecture Festival 2018 will include (clockwise from top left): Jeanne Gang, Founding Principal, Studio Gang; Rem Koolhaas, Founder of Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Francine Houben, Founding Partner and Creative Director of Mecanoo; Li Xiadong, Professor of Architecture, Tsinghua University; Anni Sinnemäki Deputy Mayor of Helsinki; Professor Sir Peter Cook, Director, CRAB Studio; Marieke van Doorninck, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam; Sir David Adjaye, Principal, Adjaye Associates. Image courtesy of WAF

WAF’s programme takes advantage of its new venue, Amsterdam. Various speakers will outline the city’s dramatic transformation and how architecture is contributing to it, while Dutch architecture and design luminaries confirmed to speak include Francine Houben, Founding Partner and Creative Director of Mecanoo; Kees Christiaanse, Founder of KCAP Architects and Planners; and Caroline Bos, Co-founder of UN Studio. In keeping with the global focus of the event, they are joined on the speaker’s roster by established international architects including Li Xiaodong, Chad Oppenheim, Principal of Oppenheim Architecture + Design and John Wardle, Principal of John Wardle Architects.

The INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, which is co-located with WAF and takes place simultaneously in Amsterdam, has also revealed four keynote speakers that will be headlining at the event: India Mahdavi, principal of India Mahdavi architecture and design; Christina Seilern, Founder of Studio Seilern; Eva Jiřičná, Partner of AI – Design; and Maria Warner Wong, co-founder of WOW.

Download the 2018 Festival Guide 

This year’s programme responds to the Festival’s theme, "Identity" and will include speeches, discussions and debates examining the complex and deep-rooted relationship between architecture, design and identity. Presentations and talks on the event’s main stage and the festival hall stage in Amsterdam will analyse not only how architecture can express personal, community, civic and national identity, but also how buildings and places increasingly need to contend with issues around ethnic or gender identity.

"We’re delighted that Rem Koolhaas has joined our already stellar list of speakers for this year’s event. This is the first time we’ll be holding WAF in the Dutch capital, and just as the Dutch masters presided over a golden age of artistic endeavour and expression in the 17th century, Rem and his contemporaries have spearheaded architectural innovation that has been exported and embraced around the world," said Paul Finch, Programme Director of World Architecture Festival.

"Attendees of WAF 2018 can look forward to speeches and talks from them and a wide selection of architects, designers, engineers, academics and urban planners as they articulate and interrogate challenges related to this year’s event theme – Identity."

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...

Top image: Rem Koolhaas. Image © Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

> via WAF