Popov was born in Shanghai, China to Russian parents and moved to Sydney aged twelve. He was educated at Newington College (1958-1960)[1] and the University of New South Wales before studying further in Denmark. Popov graduated in architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Art in 1971 and then worked with Henning Larsen and Jørn Utzon (to whose daughter Lin he was married for 15 years).[2] He returned to Australia in 1983 and established Alex Popov Architects (later Alex Popov & Associates). The practice is now known as PopovBass with both Australian architect Brian Bass and Alex Popov as directors. The practice has been successful in a number of design competitions and has received numerous major awards from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects including several Wilkinson Awards and the Robin Boyd Award.
An original monograph on Popov's earlier works, titled Alex Popov: Buildings and Projects with text by Paul McGillick and photography by Kraig Carlstrom, was published by Axel Menges, Stuttgart. Another comprehensive monograph titled Alex Popov Architects : Selected Works 1999 - 2007 with text by Anna Johnson and photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall was published by Pesaro Publishing.
