Nanshan Marriage Registration Center
Urbanus

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

In China, the marriage registration office's image is closely linked to the Government.

It is an office of the civil affairs department, normally perceived as a common and dull place, part of the bureaucracy. This turns the supposedly romantic idea of marriage registration into a routine and boring experience.

The Nanshan Marriage Registration Center is a new architectural idea that gives an experience for life and a permanent memory of the journey of marriage to new couples. It is also a medium for information display and for recording newly registered couples. 

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

A key point of the design is to discover how to organize the personal ceremonial experience. A continuous spiral shows part of the process in the whole sequence - arriving, approaching to the wedding hall with the focus of relatives, photographing, waiting, registering,  ascending, overlooking, issuing, descending slope, passing the water pool, and reuniting with relatives.

/Urbanus

The building site is located in the northeast corner of Lijing Park in the Nanshan district. The main building is placed on the northern side of the site, close to the street corner.


Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)
The building's skin is a double layer structure, with the first layer using floral mesh aluminum to reveal the interior, and the second layer using glass walls to provide a weatherproof structure.


Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)
The building volume is divided into smaller spaces to achieve relative privacy. The walls are predominantly white to emphasize the saintly atmosphere of marriage registration.


Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)
A small pavilion on the southern side is connected to the main building by two bridges floating on a reflecting pool. The overall layout reveals this series of ceremonial spaces gradually and, at the same time, makes the main building a symbolic civil landmark.


Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)

Photo courtesy Urbanus (Qiwei Wu and Yan Meng)


Drawing courtesy UranusAnalysis of Movement

Model photo courtesy Uranus

Model photo courtesy Uranus


Drawing courtesy UranusSite Map



Drawing courtesy UranusSite Plan


Drawing courtesy UranusFirst Floor Plan

Drawing courtesy UranusSecond Floor Plan



Drawing courtesy UranusSections