Nikol Kirova is an interdisciplinary architect with a background in interior design and urban planning. Born in Bulgaria in 1994 but lived most of her life abroad. She is always looking for advanced concepts and projects that can inspire her work.
During the past couple of years Nikol has gotten involved in a wide range of projects from material systems to urban interventions. The common feature among her work is the search for alternative solutions in terms of construction, application and design. She has established a great set of skills regarding physical computing, digital fabrication and is currently developing her coding.
In 2018 her research on the interactive, graphene-based medium designed for spatiotemporal control and analysis (Synapse) has been awarded with the Digital Matter and Intelligent Construction excellence award.
During the summer of 2018 she assisted in the Global Summer School in Barcelona.
Project: Synapse
Synapse is a designed system by University of Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Nikol Kirova that focuses on artificially and materially intelligent architecture. Kirova created a system that can sense analyse data by generating intelligence information and creating a dialogue between public spaces and its users.
Synapse can provide accurate, anonymous and large-scale spatio-temporal information. It has the potential to reveal dynamic occupancy maps, trend prediction, and real-time urban interaction pedestrian information.
At the centre of her project is graphene material which is one of the most promising nanomaterials, and a great conductor of electricity. Kirova wants to use the material as an urban scale proposition for monitoring data of urban flows in cities.
“The full potential of the project will be realised when paired with other existing urban information (land use or mobility data) transforming the urban environment into a fully responsive one,” says Kirova.