I’m going to take a little diversion from my usual mode, which is blogging about completed projects. Another topic which I find interesting is beautiful designs that, for one reason or another, are not completed. I think every designer who has been working for some time ends up with a collection of these, and some are memorable stories in their own right, even though they did not get past the design stage. Sometimes creative energy can go beyond budgetary constraints, committee imagination or, in this case, political consistency.

Some years ago, Boulder’s sister city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, gave Boulder, Colorado, the spectacular gift of a beautiful tea house. Built from 1987-1990, this tea house was given a place of honor in the city of Boulder, near downtown next to Boulder Creek and across from a park.

As a reciprocal gift, the city of Boulder decided to give Dushanbe a cybercafe. In honor of the truly incredible gift from Dushanbe, this cybercafe was to be a gift of some magnificence. One of our top architects, Dave Barrett of Barrett Studio Architects, was chosen to design the building and I was honored to be the landscape architect for the landscape design. So, take a look at what we had cooked up….

Original plan for cybercafe gift to Boulder's sister city, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

This original cybercafe project was to be right on the main drag of capital, sandwiched between the National Library and the Duchanbe Philharmonic building. We designed a mini-plaza in front of an extraordinary piece of architecture based on a solar energy kiva. The whole plaza is based on the theme of water, with three really significant water elements. In fact, passers-by can interact with one of water features by crossing a bridge over the water feature that spirals down into the depths beneath the bridge. There are some high-tech fountains where wave-like patterns are created by multiple jets of water.

However, the whole thing never got built there. We had developed this extraordinary concept for the heart of town. Later, after we finished working through all of this, due I believe to political pressure, the whole thing was moved to the edge of town, to a much less prominent position. So, we had to downscale the whole project so it would be harmonious with its surroundings.