The Spire
In any conversation there are always two sides, give and take, understanding on both ends. When the Spire was built, Charles Boyce and the committee who selected it from 93 entries, meant the sculpture to inspire and to represent the Olympic spirit.*
A safety concern was that students would climb the legs of the spire, so the triangular additions to the base were added. This was the solution chosen amongst suggestions for a glass fence, a "rat stopper", or 1.8m pillars for the dinosaur-like beast to stand on.**
Since its installation just before the 1988 Olympics, the "Paperclip", as students refer to the Spire, serves as a meeting place and directional landmark. Charles Boyce did not foresee the nickname of the Spire when he created it. He said the "Spire depicts a progression of human movement. The forms of the sculpture represent, by their various positions, crawling, walking, running, jumping, flying". "The outline of the Spire", Mr. Boyce notes, "becomes a spaceship, symbolizing man's reaching out to explore the galaxy, and a steeple, symbolizing man's discovery of the universe within."***
When the 19.88 m monster was first introduced, the Gauntlet's opinion was "Somebody spent way too much money on this thing."**** Take a look for yourself and decide if the Spire is majestic and monumental, or a gigantic waste of money.
Directions: Enter the Oval building and turn to your left into Kinesiology. Turn right at the workout area, and turn right at the next major hallway. Halfway down the hallway, on your left, will be Bob Boston.
* The University of Calgary Gazette, June 24, 1987
** University Archives, Memorandum, January 4, 1986, File 92.012-36.05
*** University Archives, Public Affairs Press Release, January 29, 1987, File 92.012-36.05
**** The Gauntlet, July 16, 1987
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