How does a person who is dying continue to live, choose, and even find joy? These were some of the goals that Ong Ker-Shing and Joshua Comaroff of Lekker Architects had when they designed the Oasis Day Hospice, a first-of-its-kind intergenerational day centre that redefines end-of-life caregiving.

Together with The Care Lab, Lekker Architects leveraged design thinking to shift the conventional and oftentimes impersonal caregiving model to a progressive one that empowers patients, as well as foster positive connections between them and their loved ones.

Unconventionally designed spaces in Oasis Day Hospice include an open bar that serves happy hour from 2 to 4pm; a mahjong room; a ‘spalon’ offering an array of services ranging from spa treatments to nail art sessions and haircuts; and a ‘greenhouse’ that is brightly lit with skylights, arches, and rows of plants hanging from the ceiling.

Indeed, while Oasis Day Hospice functions like a hospice in terms of providing quality palliative care, it looks nothing like one. There, instead of waiting helplessly to die, one carries on to find pleasure, enjoy life, and reclaim joy, beauty and dignity right till the end.