![]() Photograph: Christopher Schuetzeĭespite its many flaws, the 64-hectare campus boasts high-speed internet – which just a half a decade ago was a rarity in the country – backup electricity generators to bridge frequent power cuts, and networking systems to guarantee that big businesses can stay online constantly. ![]() The interior courtyard of Cyber Tower 1, the city’s showpiece. Like other local observers, Macbeth says that despite its many design flaws, the project did what it set out to do: create a modern working environment in the African island state, while ameliorating traffic conditions in the capital, Port Louis.īuilt on sugar cane fields roughly 15km to the south along the M1 (one of two modern highways that bisect the country) and completely disconnected from the surrounding urban fabric, Cybercity was promoted as a leap into the future for Mauritius. “It’s far from perfect, but it’s better than we had before,” says Ross Macbeth, a Scottish-trained architect based in Mauritius. While the development can be criticised for a shocking lack cohesiveness, poor public transport, limited parking or even difficult access by foot, its creation did bring many aspects of modern connected life to Mauritian workers. A 16 foot by 24-foot wall mural on a vacant building will soon grace an entrance to the town and resurrect the slogan “East Brady, Playground on the Allegheny.Both an urban planning disaster and – for many proud Mauritians – the very definition of modern office life, Cybercity was first proposed by the government in 2001 as a high-tech hub, and now houses almost 25,000 mostly educated, middle-class workers during the week. Toni Henry, chair of the Trail Town Initiative, a committee under the East Brady Development Corporation, said the group commissioned a colorful mural by Paul Means, of Butler, (pictured below) would include all four seasons and all types of activity along the river and the trail in East Brady. “We are showcasing kayaking, motor boating, waterskiing, hiking, fishing, horseshoeing, and all sorts of outdoor activities on the river and the trail,” said Henry. ![]() “We’re planning to have it installed in June and dedication on June 17. We asked him to do it on panels, so that the installation could be made on the wall, so down the road if the building was sold or something, the mural could be moved and be placed elsewhere. The agreement with the owner of the building states that the mural is the property of the East Brady Development Corporation. The wall is being sandblasted this month, and in early June, we’ll get their furring strips up.”ĮBDC advertised for a professional muralist, and Means responded and interviewed with a committee. Means, who has concentrated on murals for the last 20 years, immediately bonded with the committee and offered many suggestions for the illustration. His numerous residential and corporate commissions include such diverse topics as a 10 by 15 foot mural of a Mennonite Barn raising installed in a restaurant in the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside two 23 foot long landscapes of Alaska and Africa created as a backdrop for a big game hunters collection of trophies. Heinz Co., Alcoa, and U.P.M.C, as well as numerous attorneys, doctors, investment bankers, and some prominent Pittsburgh sports figures.Ī partial list of his clients include executives from H.J.
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