ONYX

The context: on one side, a parking lot, slightly sloped towards the lake, surrounded by a 4-hectare shopping mall and a factory. On the other side, a park designed for leisurely walks around the lake. Thus, a total dichotomy exists on this site: on the north side, the vision of man-made hell; on the south, the vision of natural paradise. The Onyx Cultural Center balances in-between these two worlds; it does not exist by itself; even with its scale and unbalanced position it cannot solve the contradiction of the site, but tries to give an essential continuity for the site's overall coherence. The proposition is to intensify the particular characteristics of each element, synthetic and vegetal, to play with the absolute contrast and to free a strong, poetic image through the tension of these contrasts. The volume of the cultural center rises up from the parking lot, contrasting with its site: it is cubic, compact, dense, and thick (text from website Ateliers Jean Nouvel).