Profile

Profile:

Nikolay is a landscape architect with over 16 years of practice in Bulgaria and New Zealand. His work experience varies from residential and small commercial landscape architectural design to large scale planning projects including: Aotea Square Redevelopment, Flat Bush Master Plan, Garden of New Zealand Pavilion for World Expo in Shanghai, China 2010, and Petrouniversity Campus, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Nikolay permanently joined Unitec’s Department of Landscape Architecture in 2008. He is teaching a range of topics across the landscape programmes, including CAD and Documentation (DLD), 3rd year Studio and Landscape Ecology (BLA), principle supervisor (MLA). Nikolay also teaches GIS short courses and is a GIS Coordinator for Unitec.

Research:

Nikolay’s research focuses on generative landscape architecture and explores ways of understanding spatial and temporal patterns as self-organising morphologies. This provides a promising paradigm for exploring spatial organizations as the emergent outcome of dynamic relations between multiple singularities bounded together by various feedback loops. Self-organising spatial morphologies can be defined as a part of a process, usually a simple one, and modelled employing generative algorithms.

This approach opens exciting possibilities in landscape architecture - the challenge of a new naturalness of the artificial event as a mirror of Nature. It opens the way for discovery of novel fields of human creativity, indissoluble synthesis between art and science that would be unthinkable without computer tools.

Conversations:
Generative Landscape architecture is the idea expressed as genetic code or construction of artificial complex dynamic systems able to generate endless possibilities.
Every generative project is a concept-software that constructs infinite variety of unique events and possible expressions of the generative idea. Thus generative landscape architecture becomes an amazing and endless expansion of human creativity. Computers are simply the tools for its storage in memory and execution.

Publications

Roggema, R., & Popov, N. (2017). Chapter 16 Swarm Planning-Developing a Tool for Innovative Resilience Planning. Yan, W.&Galloway, W. Cham, Switzerland.

Gao, Y., & Popov, N. (2015). Auckland Volcanic Field Build Resilient Framework on Public Open Space. X-Section Journal (Vol. peer review online).
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/3441

Shoujun, C., & Popov, N. (2015). A New Peri-Urban Agricultural System for Auckland. X-Section Journal (Vol. 5).
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/3440

Roggema, R., & Popov, N. (2015). Swarm Planning: Development of Generative Spatial Planning Tool for Resilient Cities. B. Martens, G. Wurzer, T. Grasl, W. E. Lorenz, R. Schaffranek, Proceedings of eCAADe 2015, Towards Smarter Cities - Applied, eCAADe 33 (Vol. 1).
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/3371

Dove , K., and Popov, N. (2013). Parametric Models of Coastal Settlements' Growth. In R. Davies and D. Menzies (Eds.) Proceedings of the 50th International Federation of Landscape Architects World Congress, 'Shared Wisdom in an Age of Change', Auckland, New Zealand.
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/2745

Wurzer , G., Popov, N., and Lorenz, W. (2012). Meetig Simulation Needs of Early-Stage Design Through Agent-Based Simulaion. Digital Physicality - Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe, Prague, Czech Republic, September 12-14, 2012, (Vol. 1).

Popov, N. (2011). Generative subdivision morphogenesis with Cellular Automata and Agent Based Modelling. Respecting fragile places: proceedings of the 29th Conference on Education on Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe, Ljubljana, Slovenia, eCAADe and UNI Ljubljana Faculty of Architecture.

Popov, N. (2010). Exploring Architectural Possibilities with Flocking Algorithms. Soddu, C. (Ed.), Proceedings of the GA2010 - 13th Generative Art International Conference.

Egginton, Z., Popov, N., and Orams, B. (2010). Digitising the complex form. Murphy, C., Wake, S.J., Turner, D., McConchie, G., and Rhodes, D. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of ANZAScA. On the edge: Cross-disciplinary.

Popov, N. (2010). Generative urban design with Cellular Automata and Agent Based Modelling. Murphy, C., Wake, S.J., Turner, D., McConchie, G., and Rhodes, D. (Eds.) . Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of ANZAScA. On the edge: Cross-disciploinary and intra-disciplinary connections in architectural science (Vol. CD Rom).

Bogunovich, D., Popov, N., Williamson, P., and Egginton, Z. (2009). The Eco-Design Showcase. Queens Wharf Competition Entry.

Popov, N. (2009). Utilising agent-based models for simulating landscape dynamics. Fennessy, L., Kerr, R., Melles, G., Thong, C., and Wright, E. Cumulus 38s Conference on Hemispheric Shifts across Learning, Teaching and Research978-1-921426-52-0.

Popov, N. N. (2008). Open Systems Design In Landscape Architecture. In R. Barnett (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2008 NZILA SHIFT Conference (Vol. CD-ROM).

Popov, N. N. (2007). How can Netlogo be used in the landscape architectural design process? Unpublished thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture, Unitec New Zealand, New Zealand.

Margetts, J., Barnett, R., and Popov, N. (2007). Landscape systems modelling: A disturbance ecology approach. Sheffield, J., and Fielden, K. Proceedings of the 13th Annual Australia and New Zealand Systems (ANZSYS) Conference, 'Systematic development: Local solutions in a global environment'13th ANZSYS Conference (Vol. CD Rom).