PORTFOLIO Simona Nikova
Simona Nikova *27.03.1992 Keiberg 2a 3053 Haasrode +32 487 61 31 49 simona.nikova@gmail.com
CURRICULUM VITAE CAREER Sept 2015-...
Junior project architect at BUREAU BAS SMETS, BRUSSELS Involved in various small and large scale landscape architecture projects, both in competition, masterplanning and definitive design.
April 2017
WORKSHOP BIXIGA: REHABILITATION, RESISTANCE, RESILIENCE Participated in an international workshop in Sao Paulo organised by KULeuven and MacKenzie University.
EDUCATION 2013-2016
Master of Science in Engineering Science: Architecture [option Urban Project] KULeuven, University of Leuven Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning (ASRO) GRADUATION CUM LAUDE
2013 summer internship at DMOArchitecten, Leuven 2013 ATHENS course at TU Delft: ‘Bottom-up city planning’ 2014 ATHENS course at Politecnico di Milano: ‘Urban planning in shrinking cities’
2010-2013
Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science: Architecture KULeuven, University of Leuven Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning (ASRO)
2003-2010
Secondary Education: Greek-Mathematics Heilig Hart Instituut Heverlee
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EXTRA CURRICULAR Feb-March 2016 summer 2014 2013-2014
CITYSHAPES EXHIBITION at MUSEUM M, Leuven EASA [European Architecture Students Assembly] EXISTENZ [President of student association]
LANGUAGES Dutch Bulgarian
mother tongue
English
IELTS score 8.0 (2010)
French
CEFR certificate B2
Portuguese
SKILLS Autodesk Autocad
Google Sketchup
Adobe Photoshop
Vectorworks
Adobe Illustrator
ArchiCAD
Adobe Indesign
MS Office
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BUREAU BAS SMETS september 2015 - now
Bureau Bas Smets is a landscape architecture firm based in Brussels. I was involved in the following projects, ordered by level of responsability. TWEEWATERS | design and execution of a residential area and park in Leuven, in collaboration with XDGA TOUR&TAXIS | design and execution of a residential and industrial site in Brussels, in collaboration with Sergison Bates architects, noAarchitecten and Awg Architecten LOODSWEZEN | competition for a new public space on the quais in Antwerp, in collaboration with Stephane Beel Architecten HAVENLAAN 12 | design of a residential site in Brussels, in collaboration with OFFICE KGDVS. JONCTION | masterplan for the Jonction neighbourhood in Brussels. JOSAPHAT | masterplan for a large residential development in Brussels
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SELECTED PROJECTS
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BIXIGA: REHABILITATION, RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE
STUDIO SAO PAULO III
International Workshop
Master Thesis
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PORO-CIDADE
RECLAIM THE VALLEY
Master Thesis
1 MIRA
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WESTATION
THE NEW ASRO
3BIRA
2 BIRA
XIGA
OFICINA INTERNACIONAL INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP 02/04/2017 - 09/04/2017
acura Bis
1 BIXIGA: REHABILITATION, RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE International workshop organised by KULeuven and MacKenzie University Sao Paulo In collaboration with Bruno De Meulder, Eliana Rosa De Queiroz Barbosa, Jeroen Stevens, Joris Moonen, Jonas Knapen, AmĂŠlie Jageneau, Michael Stas and Sanne Peeters
The workshop revolved around Bixiga - one of the oldest and only heritage listed neighbourhoods of Sao Paulo which struggles to keep its identity due to the high pressure of real estate developpers and the lack of political will to preserve the area. The goal was to develop a strategy which gives resilience to this neighbourhood. We focused on the area around the Vai Vai Samba school. We proposed to enforce the topography and landscape, thus creating more public space, room for wilderness to flourish and a new site specific housing typology. We strongly believe this strategy will create a set of rules which will generate a different kind of development which preserves the unique charachter of the area, while at the same time offer resilience for water retainment and organising public life around the samba school.
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2 STUDIO SAO PAULO III THE VALLEY OF TIETE, EMERGENCE OF A CENTRALITY Otherness as an incentive for urban transformation Master thesis Joint work with Sander Henkens, Amélie Jageneau and Maarten Roebben Promotor: Bruno De Meulder, Yuri Gerrits and Eliana Rosa De Queiroz Barbosa Studio São Paulo is presented as an urbanism trilogy, blending research and design into a comprehensive exploration of the floodplain of the metropolis’ main stem. It addresses the valley of Tietê, an affluent yet depreciated part of the city. The leitmotif amongst the past three years was the quest for resilience. The Tietê valley is dealing with fast urban transformations, in such a blindfold manner, that over time the characteristic elements are disappearing, without the reappearance of a new, specific identity. Increasing obstinacy of the existing structure was a priority, while guiding the ongoing, non-cohesive urban development. The format of this thesis strongly relates to the process of our one-year research. A bottomup approach, starting with a limited amount of knowledge of the city of São Paulo, was the initial plan of attack. An in-depth context analysis of four specific sites, closely related but nevertheless remarkably diverse, led to a step by step discovery of the complexity of this 13
fascinating metropolis. By being forced to skip the larger scale at first, approaching the sites alternatively, new insights were gathered. It allowed us to identify and recycle certain issues within our own perspective and to constitute different conclusions. First is a preluding enquiry on urban planning policies, as an intervening factor in the current state of the urbanised landscape in São Paulo, is discussed. The municipality’s on-going project of Arco do Futuro is far from flawless but encompasses promising ambitions. Their incentives for change are a starting point of the bottom-up designs, as well as the exact reason why a critical refelection is necessary.
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The second part is a pursuit of otherness as a peculiar quality of the Tietê Valley, a prolific and complex juxtaposition of infrastructure, built form and open space. An understanding of the valley’s intrinsic logics moulds latent motives into conceptual design proposals. In the last part otherness as a hovering concept touches ground as it is explored in a series of individual design exercises, explicitly contextual. This is complemented by a collective strategy, defining the substratum of an emerging centrality.
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3 PORO-CIDADE Master thesis [individual part] The floodplain of Tietê is today on the verge of being conquered by the generic development. This is the moment when it’s crucial to preserve its particular character. The origin of its otherness is in many ways a consequence of the river Tietê itself. Its former meanders and tributaries have defined the rules for the development of the valley and are still visible as scars in the tissue. Every year the river fights against the cementing of its floodplain, expressing its need for unbuilt voids and permeable soil by flooding big areas. A new landscape is necessary to resurface and reclaim its position; a landscape which will intertwine with the existing infrastructure and tissue and form a coherence. This thesis acknowledges the indispensable urge to add a new porous layer. But porosity is more than just increasing the permeability of the floodplain. Porosity is a way of engaging the existing structures to interact with each other. A tissue can be porous on different levels: it can fuse with the new landscape as well as consist of porous architecture which allows free movement within a building block or being a hybrid combining different functions together. In a similar manner, the over dimensioned infrastructure dominating the valley nowadays can amalgamate with the new layer and become an infrascape as a backbone for a more integrated and conscious development. This project will explore different levels of porosity as a strategy to preserve the otherness of the floodplain. It is conceived as a process in time, starting at the beginning of the 20th century and transforming into a future scenario. Every phase of the development is able to function on its own, but is at the same time a crucial step towards the execution of the strategy. 19
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4 RECLAIM THE VALLEY 1MIRA Joint work with Emmanuel Van Oost and Simone Conz Exhibited at ASRO open studio exhibition How should a city like Charleroi work in the current situation of economic and financial decline? How can we handle the vast wastelands created by the heavy industries? How should we deal with contaminated soil? How can we bring life in an emptying post-industrial city? A good plan for Charleroi needs a realistic long vision and a time strategy to guarantee the implementation. To change a city thoroughly, it must come from within. To do so the abandoned and polluted reality of today should gradually, step by step, be prepared for redevelopment. In times of economic and financial decline, a feasible strategy starts with cheap interventions, small but with a big scope. People shouldn’t wait for change happening, instead they should trigger it themselves. Participation is crucial. On the short term the community, together with the municipalities, should by using the power of surprise, rediscover the valley. Voids, leftovers from the industry,brownfields, ‌ their potential should be explored. On the long term people should act and start the cleaning process of the contaminated environment. Phytoremediation offers an easy, lowcost and feasible way to activate the community intaking responsibility and helping the valley cleanup. This time strategy is further explored on three sites.
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Long Term
.............................................................. While there is a need of a short term, bottom-up approach, the sites of the valley also need to be prepared for future developments. These preparations consist mainly of the clean-up of the highly polluted soil. There’s a wide range of techniques that take care of such remediation but there is one specific method that can mean a big difference in the environment of Charleroi.
RECLAIM THE VALLEY
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5 WESTSTATION 3BIRA Joint work with Arno Maes, Annelies Maeyens and An-Sofie Michielsen Exhibited at ASRO open studio exhibition
The site Weststation is located in Molenbeek, Brussels. On this triangular plot a new mixed housing project had to be designed containing a diverse range of housing typologies as well as a public market for the community. A shared urban garden weaves through the plot and connects the different functions together. Public and private meet in distinctive clear-defined ways. The first step of this project was the making of the masterplan. A coherent volume was designed which still holds on to the characteristics of individual housing organised around the shared green space. The second step consisted of a further refinement and elaboration of the housing typologies. Every apartment became unique due to subtle changes in plan and the balcony position.
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Concept Evolutie
Raster met patio's
Doorbreken Raster
Doorbreken Maat
Bouwblok
Resultaat
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Niveau m / 6
Schaal /
Nivo
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Appartement A m
Appartement d m
Schaal / . Keuken
. Leefruimte
. Berging
. slaapkamer
. Badkamer
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. WC
. Terras
6 THE NEW ASRO 2BIRA Exhibited at ASRO open studio exhibition
As the Arenberg castle is becoming insufficient to support all the architecture students in Leuven, the project was to design a new building. It would be situated at the railway station of the city, as an extension of the new developments there. It should be able to house design classrooms as well as auditoriums and staff offices. My main concept of the new building was to maximise transparency and light. Every floor is flexibly organised around a patio. These patios have different shapes following the needs of the functions next to it and are placed on top of each other. As a consequence every floor and every function receives a lot of light. On top of that a new enclosed outdoor space is created which can be used by the students. All the functions are separated and yet in contact with each other through these patios. On street level, the building takes a step back as it invites passer-by’s and students to interact and gather.
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EXTRA CURRICULAR
1 EXISTENZ
2 EASA
3 PHOTOGRAPHY
1 EXISTENZ president 2013-2014
Existenz is a cultural organisation of the architecture students at KULeuven. Every year a new team enthusiastically organises various events and manages to surprise with their creativity. Existenz is active in very different ways: cultural cafes in alternative locations, a magazine Unité, the parties Bauhouse, weekend trips for the younger architecture students,… But the highlight of the year is the Existenzweek. In this week an old abandoned building is renovated in an inovative way and the week is packed with different activities. During the day there are workshops (learning how to work with wood or leather, making sushi, taking photographs with a self-made pinhole camera…) and the evenings are filled with lectures by for example Paul Robrecht and Arne Quinze. The café becomes the new gathering place for every architecture student or Existenz admirer. On top of that we organised a dance evening, quiz and a market where various DIY and vintage stuff were sold. In 2013-2014 I was happy to be part of this organisation and was elected as the president. I was not only involved in every important decision but was also responsible for the communication with external instances like police, fire department, the city council and the KULeuven.
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Kaffee Weltevree
Bauhouse
Kaffee Atelier
Existenzweek
2 EASA
European Architecture Students Assembly summer 2014
The European Architecture Students Assembly started as an annual event created by students and tutors of the Liverpool University in 1981 as a means of bringing talented students together to address issues facing the profession and our built and unbuilt environment. Since its conception, every summer, around 500 of the brightest students from every part of Europe came together to exchange ideas, cultures and experiences. Two intensive weeks of workshops, lectures, exhibitions and events facilitate this exchange. Today, EASA has become a vast international network of students, with no central board of any kind. Each year the event is organised by a group of students from the host country. I participated in EASA 2014 in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. The workshop I chose was Camera Obscura. We build a pavilion which followed the principal of an eye and how photography has originated. By making a small hole the image of the outside is projected upside down inside the pavilion.
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3 PHOTOGRAPHY
I have always love photography and more specifically architecture photography. In 2016, my photo was one of the 24 selected photos by photographer Jimmy Kets for the Cityshapes exhibition in Museum M, in Leuven. For more pictures, please visit https://www.instagram.com/_simoose_/
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CITYSHAPES exhibition at MUSEUM M february and march 2016