Eva Shen - MADA NOW 2021 - Art, Design and Architecture

Hello! I’m Eva, a Melbourne based Spatial Designer. I believe our world is a configuration of connections that are both big and small. Within my practice, I aim to explore the underlying connections between humans and our spatial environments. My graduating project, ‘Submerged’ proposes a floating village that responds to the drastic sea level changes in the Gulf of Thailand, exploring the prospects of moving farming and living systems off land and onto water. I hope to further my spatial design career by designing spaces that seamlessly interlace the physical and emotional experiences felt, whilst remaining socially and environmentally conscious.

Submerged - Collaboration with Chantel Zhou & Clare Dimitroulis

In an era where we are plagued by our own production, consumption and waste, we face the threats of rising sea levels and food insecurity. We propose that in 2045, floating infrastructures will offer a more sustainable approach, revolutionising the conventional systems of farming and living.

Submerged Farming

The ‘breathing’ structures are modular in form, expanding and contracting, moving through the water. The mobility of the village allows for food trade and exchange between cities and countries, confronting issues of food insecurity. Processes of hydroponics and aeroponics serve to facilitate the growth of fresh produce and protein sources within the Gulf of Thailand.

Systems Diagram

The proposed regenerative floating village adopts a circular programming which looks to incorporate a wide range of food production systems.

Sensory Eating - Collaboration with Chantel Zhou & Clare Dimitroulis

How will our eating habits have changed in 2045? This speculative apparatus responds to the pressures of our food insecure future, investigating how we can utilise our perception of flavour through olfactory and gustatory processes, to alter our eating experience.

Secret Encounter

Presented in the form of a playground, this installation responds to the psychological and physical disconnection amongst human beings in today’s contemporary world; an ongoing byproduct of the excessive exposure and use of social media. Running through the walls of the MUMA gallery is a talking tube that connects visitors at opposite ends of the museum, creating an opportunity to share and listen to each other’s personal secrets. The installation aims to be a playful platform that creates an anonymous and unexpected connection between two strangers, engaging with ideas of self-filtering, trust and vulnerability, all of which are present in our operations of social media.

Light of Day

A second year project exploring notions of temporality within a space and an atmospheres’ ability to change and transform our spatial experiences. ‘Light of Day’ combines the materiality of traditional Chinese calligraphy paper - ‘xuan zhi’, a lemon-less tree and the natural elements of light, wind and shadow to create an effortlessly light and tranquil atmosphere within a dull backyard.