This construction site sculpture was created as the centerpiece of One Colorado Plaza in downtown Pasadena California. The idea was to make a fountain that represented the rebirth of the “old town” of Pasadena. I decided to use the image of a water main repair as the basis of the sculpture. I followed and photographed a water department crew and the people depicted in the sculpture were the actual workers.

There were several interesting technical circumstances that I confronted when making the piece. One: The plaza was above a movie theater, so the protection had to be completely watertight. 2: California law require that the water from the fountain had to be recycled so the water had to be pumped from the fountain, filtered and then reused so there was no water loss. 3: The telephone repairman figure was fixed to the existing pole and had to be engineered to follow codes and be approved by the city.4: The sculpture needed to be able to resist earthquakes so each glass figure was attached to specially engineered moveable mounts that were just beneath the surface of the plaza.