Paul Hobson
San Diego
Viewage
18700 West Bernardo Drive, San Diego
San Diego County Thomas Guide page 1150, grid B5

San Diego artist Paul Hobson was challenged in 1997 to find a way to turn a utilitarian public project into something that was beautiful as well as useful. The city of San Diego Water Utilities Department needed to build a 210,000-square-foot emergency storage pond below a ridge of homes overlooking Lake Hodges.

Naturally, homeowners had concerns about the appearance of the pond impacting their view of the lake. The city's project manager, concerned with aesthetics as well as functionality, promised to find a mutually beneficial solution.

Hobson created it with "Viewage," an amoebae-shaped pond that blends with the surrounding landscape. Hobson used color hardeners and a checkerboard construction technique to create a giant pixilated view of the pond.

"That's a lot of concrete, a lot of area (to disguise)," Hobson said. "The city had a relationship with the community and had access to their back yards to get a first-hand view to understand what we were up against."

Since completion, the pond has been used several times. In 1998, it kept a sewage spill from flowing into a nearby drinking water reservoir.

"That's pretty heady stuff," Hobson said. "As an artist, as a human, you feel like you've done something good."