<translation>ONYX</translation>

When you look at the ONYX cultural center from anywhere, one thing usually comes to mind - a black box set on a large gray concrete parking lot. The black box, from a distance, seems somewhat intangible due to its facade, which gives the impression of slightly porous asphalt cardboard. The facade is pierced only in the front by the main entrance and a poster with the inscription ONYX. Everything else is hidden under an inaccessible shell of black.
On one side, ONYX is surrounded by a large parking lot, while on the other side, facing away from the tram stop, it towers above a construction site. It is hard to say whether it got its name retroactively based on its appearance or if Jean Nouvel conceived it under this name (onyx - a type of semi-precious stone (agate), usually black on the surface, with concentric multicolored stripes appearing when cut). ONYX, which originally stood alone here, is now gradually being surrounded by a new cinema, a Decathlon store by Norman Foster, and a number of other buildings, thus gradually losing its hypnotic solitude of a black obelisk on a concrete plain.
But let's enter the black box, however difficult it may seem from a distance. The first thing that catches our attention is a spacious entrance hall - how could it be otherwise, completely black with red neon signs reading Jardin and Salles, directing us towards two metal staircases. On the wall of the hall opposite the entrance, a strip of screens glows out of the darkness. What strikes you right at the beginning is the incredibly low ceiling height of the hall (about 2.3 m), which, along with the horizontal expansiveness, gives it somewhat unbelievable proportions that seem to press you to the ground and immediately urge you to escape through one of the two main staircases that shine through the glass facades closing off the two opposite walls of the hall. So, not ideal for claustrophobics - something like this would hardly pass here. When I entered the hall, there was a small table with a red tablecloth and a ticket seller in the middle - we are already familiar with Nouvel's color combination from the Palais de Justice (even though ONYX is actually its distant predecessor), so I wouldn’t be surprised if the use of a red tablecloth for this purpose was prescribed by the ONYX protocol. The metal galvanized staircases lead to landings with entrances to the halls. The individual steps are made of unreinforced sheet metal and bend slightly under your weight.