“You would want to walk barefoot in here” Levitated Curtain is the iconic architecture inside the Ketianxia Conghua Resort in Guangzhou. It is a space for wedding ceremonies and related activities. 

Wedding starts at 7 am in Guangzhou, but the ceremony only begins around 6 pm. The chapel becomes a multi-function space during the day and changes to a glorious site before sunset. So we want to design a space that connects with the surrounding landscape instead of being an enclosed space only for interior activities. 

The chapel should not be a boring enclosed space, instead it should be flexible and free, interior and exterior should be connected. Therefore we decided to make the design a absolute public space open to all. Higher in the middle and lower in two ends, the wok wall was designed to prevent fire from spreading between houses while supporting the roof as the main structure in traditional architecture. 

To create an individual modern architecture located in the middle of a vast grassland, simply taking the wok wall doesn’t make sense, so we took the curve of the wok wall, making the initially blocked space void. The wok wall then becomes a wok tunnel, introducing exterior landscape into interior space. Two wok walls are designed as the east and west façade. Each one echoes with one another, terrain and airflow through the void into the interior and then keeps moving out to the other side of the building. 

Between two “wok walls”, a double-curved centre roof sloping towards the grassland in north. There is a "Ω" shaped corridor attached to the main chapel. It is a pathway that connects the chapel with spaces behind it. It is also the shape of the traditional wok wall curve from above. During a wedding ceremony, the father holds her daughter's hand, walks through the pathway, and gives her to the groom waiting in the chapel. It's an essential process during the wedding. Thus we want to make it a real celebration. 

The corridor meandering in landscape and finally reaching the chapel stretches into the chapel under the west "wok wall", almost touching but separate from the roof curve. When audiences look at the corridor, the curvy shape creates a changing visual effect as the hall moves towards and away from the green. The light and hollow structure give the levitated curtain a flexible character. 

For the days without any ceremonies, Levitated Curtain is often used as a venue for various outdoor activities. Guests can dine, lecture, party or rest in the Levitated Curtain. The Ketianxia Scenic Spot is filled with trees. Guests can walk in the woods from the entrance of the scenic spot. When they arrive at the lawn on the north side of the Levitated Curtain, they can see it openly appear in front of the guests. Children tend to get so excited at this moment that they will rush to the auditorium and laugh happily, waiting for their parents to catch up.