Research Objective

The COVID?19 crisis has heightened the risk factors generally associated with poor mental health – financial insecurity, unemployment, fear – while protective factors – social connection, employment and educational engagement fell dramatically. This has led to a significant and unprecedented worsening of population mental health. With over 970 million people worldwide suffering from a form of mental health disorder, stress, anxiety and depression being the most prevalent, this thesis focuses on designing public spaces embedded with healing methodologies to aid mental health conditions from a community-scale to world scale.

Artaraxia, through the use of elements of nature and technology, aims to create a series of public multi-sensory installations embedded with healing methodologies that apply light (color), sound and scent vibrations to promote wellness. Due to its high number of covid cases, Barcelona, Spain will be used as the case study in this thesis.

Socio-economic Benefits