Yifan Guo

The proportion of people with anxiety in Latrobe City is much higher than the Victorian average due to the long-term stressful lives caused by work pressure, increased crime rate, and significant disasters. As the most inland location on the Great Victorian Bathing Trail, Hubert Osborne Park, situated in a regional city centre, is only composed of lawn and scattered trees and does not have high mental health value. The thesis focuses on the influence of design based on natural therapy to mitigate anxiety. The thesis design advocates and provides daily routine activities comprised of the forest walk, meditation and hot spring bathing experiences. The forest bath experience addresses anxiety by connecting people deeply with nature through their senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Hot springs landscape acts as an intermediary to solve local communities' and future visitors' anxiety. It imbues the park with essential relationships with mental health and wellbeing to invigorate the community and foster prosperity.