Olof van der Wal

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Studied history and international affairs at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. The first steps in his career led him to the department of Urban Planning in Groningen, where he worked on projects fusing architecture, urban design, theatre and art with offices like Fumihiko Maki, William Alsop, Toyo Ito, OMA and Manuel de Solà-Morales. He went on establishing an architecture centre in Groningen (Platform GRAS) and an artist in residency in John Hejduks Wall House.

In 2004 Olof moved to Rotterdam, to help organize the event Young European Architects, advise the municipality of Den Haag how to establish an architecture centre and organize debate at the Netherlands Architecture institute. By the end of 2006 Olof was appointed director of KEI, a knowledge institute/think tank on urban regeneration. He successfully guided KEI in a merger with three other knowledge institutes (SEV, NICIS, NIROV) to become Platform31. Since 2015 he combines a practice as advisor (Leefdestad) with a function as director of SKAR, the Rotterdam agency for workplaces for artists. Olof writes, lectures regularly, and loves being a moderator in debates.

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