Commemorating South San Francisco's 2008 Centennial Celebration, the sculpture was originally installed at Centennial Way and South Spruce Avenue. In 2024, it was relocated to the newly created Centennial Way Park South.
The cylindrical, stainless steel sculpture references the DNA helix in its spiral-shaped configuration. The ascending form is thick and solid, becoming light and open at the top. The wing-like, lacey pattern crowning the top serves as a metaphor for independence and aspiration.
The sculptor conceived his work as a Spiral of Growth, reflecting in his statement, "Growth is a key to what makes us human, and here the spiral is used as a symbol of the evolution of SSF, which has been expanding since the early 19th century. The change in the sculptural form is metaphoric of the change of SSF’s transition of identity from the “Industrial City” to the “Birthplace of Biotechnology.”
Centennial Way Park South (between Huntington Ave and Spruce Ave), South San Francisco 94080 View Map
Sculpture Permanent Collection Hand finished Stainless Steel 8 feet tall x 3.5' wide x 3.5' deep Created October 2011Dedicated January 21, 2012