- Room 401, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 585160
- nikolina.bobic@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Dr Nikolina Bobic
Lecturer in Architecture (History & Theory)
School of Art, Design and Architecture (Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
Role
Position
Lecturer in Architecture.
Head BA (Hons) Architecture Admissions and Marketing
Biography
Nikolina's research delves into the historical dimensions and theoretical concepts to do with spatial violence, borders, territories and control - how these notions manifest at the complex intersection of architecture, urbanism, military, media, economics, technology, literature and film. She has written on matters to do with urban destruction and reconstruction; spatial history of war, media, and technology; to, the politics of identity-construction of former Yugoslav cities. Nikolina is the author of Balkanization and Global Politics: Remaking Cities and Architecture (Routledge, 2019). At present, she is the co-convener of Political Matters: Spatial Thinking of the Alternative conference (Auckland, NZ - July, 2019), and co-editor of the forthcoming Interstices: A Journal of Architecture and Related Arts thematic issue publication - 'Political Matters' (February, 2020).
Prior to joining the University of Plymouth as a Lecturer in Architecture, Nikolina taught Architecture and Sociology at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and the University of Technology in Australia. Her industry experience is in high-end residential architecture. The predominant concentration while working as an architect was on exploring and exploiting the interface between internal and external spaces, the means by which were addressed through materiality and a close consideration of the context.
Education
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.
The University of Plymouth, UK.
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy (Architecture).
The University of Sydney, Australia.
Bachelor of Architecture – Honours Class 1.
Bachelor of Arts – Major in Sociology.
The University of New South Wales, Australia.
Awards & Funding
Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) to support PhD studies.
The University of Sydney Top-up Grant.
The University of New South Wales U/G Entry Scholarship.
Qualifications
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK (FHEA).
Registered Architect, New South Wales, Australia (NSWARB 8077).
Professional Experience
Project and Assistant Architect in high-end residential architecture. Virginia Kerridge Architect (VKA), Sydney.
Project Architect:
New 3 storey House in Bondi (2004 – 08); Alteration / Addition to a Heritage Terrace in Elizabeth Bay (2006 – 08); Alteration / Addition to a House in Bronte Beach (2006 – 08).
Assistant Architect:
Alteration/ Addition to a House in Bronte (2005 – 08); New House in Kingscliff (2006 – 08); New Cottage and Farmhouse in Hunter Valley (2007 – 08); Alteration / Addition to a House in Coogee (2006 – 07); New House in Bronte (2005 – 06); Alteration /Addition to Kerridge House + Apartment (2004).
Membership
European Architectural History Network (EAHN).
Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA).
Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ).
Australian Institute of Architects (AIA).
New South Wales Architects Registration Board (NSWARB).
Teaching interests
Teaching
2014 – current
Lecturer in Architecture. Plymouth University, UK.
Currently, Module Leader in:
Critical Context - Yrs 1 and 2.
PhD Supervision:
Marjan Saberi - 'Behind Closed Doors: A Practice-led Inquiry into Women's Domesticity in Mashad' (anticipated completion: late 2020) - 2nd Supervisor.
Current other roles:
Editor-in-chief of the School's Critical Context Journal
Member of/Reviewer for the Faculty of Arts Ethics Sub-committee
Previously, taught in and contributed towards the following Modules:
Communications - Yr 1.
Design Praxis - Yrs 1, 2 and 3.
Critical Context - Yr 3.
Emerging Research in Architecture - Masters Yr 2.
Urban Methodologies - Masters Yr 1.
Re-Thinking Architecture - Masters Yr 2.
2009 – 2014
Academic Staff in Architecture and Sociology. The University of Sydney, Australia.
Courses taught in Architecture:
Design Studio - Yrs 1, 2 and 3.
Architectural History and Theory - Yrs 2 and 3.
Architectural Communications - Yrs 1 and 2.
Architectural Technologies - Yrs 1 and 3.
Courses taught in Sociology:
Sociology of Terror - Senior Level.
Urban Sociology - Senior Level.
2009 – 2014
Academic Staff in Architecture. The University of New South Wales, Australia.
Courses taught in Architecture:
Design Studio - Yrs 1 and 2.
Architectural History and Theory - Yr 2.
Architectural Communications - Yr 1.
2013
Academic Staff in Architecture. The University of Technology, Australia.
Courses taught in Architecture:
Design Studio - Yr 2.
Research interests
Primary Research
Spatial Violence.
Balkanism and Balkanization.
Urbicide.
Urban and architectural re-construction.
Humanitarianism and Human Rights.
Power and politics of discipline and control.
Alternative practises and systems.
Other Research
‘Green Desires – Rethinking Sustainability’.
Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. The University of Sydney, Australia.
Creative Practice and Artistic Projects
‘Political Aesthetics: Forming Fact and Fiction’.
Postgraduate Research Visions Exhibition [solo piece as part of group exhibition].
The University of Sydney, Australia.
‘Bondi House’.
Biennale in Venice - Australian Abundant Pavilion.
(made a model that was exhibited for Virginia Kerridge Architect stand - VKA, Sydney).
Roles on External Bodies
Referee for the following journals, conferences and symposiums:
- Architecture Philosophy.
- Cultural Dynamics Journal.
- Fabrications.
- SAHANZ, Australia/NewZealand.
- Temporal Formal as part of the ‘Expanded Architecture’ in Sydney, Australia, 2014/15.
- Perception in Architecture. Here and Now at ANCB the Metropolitan Laboratory in Berlin, Germany, 2014.
Books, Book Chapters, Journals, Conference Papers and Book Reviews
2020
'Political Matters: Spatial Thinking of the Alternative,' Interstices: A Journal of Architecture and Related Arts 21. (thematic issue – co-edited with Farzaneh Haghighi; set for publication in February, 2020).
2019
Balkanization and Global Politics: Remaking Cities and Architecture. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Balkanization-and-Global-Politics-Remaking-Cities-and-Architecture/Bobic/p/book/9781138061835
2018
'Architecture as Cultural and Political Discourse: Case studies of Conceptual Norms and Aesthetic Practices’. Fabrications, 29 (3), 433 – 35. (book review) https://www-tandfonline-com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/doi/abs/10.1080/10331867.2018.1463149
2017
'Belgrade (de)Void of Identity: Politics of Time, Politics of Control, Politics of Difference’. Cultural Dynamics, 29 (1-2), 3 – 22. http://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/h89UPapr3BdKhMexHAjH/full
'New Belgrade After 1999: Spatial Violence as De-socialisation, De-Romanisation, and De-historisation.' In Spatial Violence: Studies in Architecture, eds. Andrew Herscher and Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi, 87 – 108. London: Routledge. http://www.routledge.com/Spatial-Violence/Herscher-Siddiqi/p/book/9781138687394
2015
'War Machine: Media and Technology during Operation Allied Force,' Fabrications, 25(3), 398 – 416. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10331867.2015.1077549
'New Belgrade After 1999: Spatial Violence as De-socialisation, De-Romanisation, and De-historisation,' Architectural Theory Review, 19(3), 355 – 375. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13264826.2014.1036491
2014
‘Re-negotiating Balkanism: Body De-stabilised in Belgrade’s Republic Square,’ Translation – Proceedings from the 31st Annual Sahanz Conference, Auckland (New Zealand), 213 – 223.
2013
‘New Belgrade and the Park of Friendship: Politicisation of Landscape and History.’ In Architecture, Politics, Art. Dakam Press: Turkey, 62 – 77.
‘Balkanising Myths: Historical (Re)formations of New Belgrade,’ Open – Proceedings from the 30th Annual Sahanz Conference, Gold Coast (Australia), 299 – 312.
2012
‘Belgrade in Formation(s): Dobrovic’s Generalstab Complex,’ Fabrications, 21(1), 6 – 27. https://doi-org.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10331867.2012.10739933
‘New Belgrade’s Park of Friendship: Mobilizing Leisure,’ Fabulation: Myth, Nature, Heritage – Proceedings from the 29th Annual Sahanz Conference, Launceston (Australia), 111 – 123.
2011
‘Songs Sustained Us: Theorizing NATO’s ‘Humanitarian’ Targeting of Belgrade,’ in Theory of Architecture, Dakam Press: Turkey, 345 – 361. (Note: paper is co-written with Glen Hill).
2010
‘Multipetal Difference of Balkan(ization): Weizman’s Boundaries,’ Inclusion and the Space of Difference - International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments, 1 – 16.
‘Kristeva’s Abject(ions): the Generalstab and Chaotic Becomings of Belgrade,’ Imagining...– Proceedings from the 27th Annual Sahanz Conference, Newcastle (Australia), 46 – 61.
Conferences, Events and Invited Lectures
2019
“Transition and Control: Urban Development of NewBelgrade’s Blocks 17 and 18,” International Conference on Cities and Change: Three Decades ofPost-socialist Transition (1989-2019), Darmstadt (Germany), 17-18 May (forthcoming).
2018
‘Belgrade: Reconstructing Balkanism, Reconstructing Rights,’ 8th International Conference on Building Resilience, Lisbon (Portugal), 14-16 November.
2017
‘Architecture, Spatial Violence and Social Control,’ School of Sociology - UoP, 29 November.
‘(De)stabilising History: Event as anOperative Tool of Power,’ Architecture, Festival and the City - 14th AHRA conference at Birmingham CityUniversity,’ Birmingham (UK), 16-18 November.
2013
‘Transgressing Flattening,' Transgression – Abstract from the 10th International AHRA Conference, Bristol (UK).
‘War, violence and control: De/re-modernisation and de/re-territorialisation through infrastructure,’ Between Architecture of War and Military Urbanism – Abstract from the 10th Urban and Landscape Days, Tallinn (Estonia).
2012
‘Control and Counter Control,’ Abstract from the Collaborative Struggles Symposium, Wollongong (Australia).
2010
‘The Life and Death of Public Architecture,’ Review of the Sydney Architecture Festival, Sydney (Australia).
Additional information
Art
Nikolina’s research also deploys her own art [drawing, painting, photography and mixed media] as an experimental tool to explore several ideas:
- connections between control, violence and resistance;
- memory, identity and history as constructs of ‘visibility’;
- legitimacy of art as evidence.