The Blue Spiral

Hammerhead installed this stone mosaic called Blue Spiral in Florida in 2011. Commissioned by the City of Gainesville, it is a 225 square foot stone mosaic patio, with a design inspired by the fossil rich limestones of of the state. Like the process of discovering a seashell embedded in an ancient rock, a nautilus shape in the patio emerges to the eye slowly. The intersecting lines suggest water steadily wearing away the matrix surrounding the fossil, stone slowly giving up its secrets. Several types of stone are used, accenting color and texture in the final piece. The stone mosaic is dry laid over sand; there’s no cement or grout. It is installed in a public courtyard at the new campus of the Gainesville Regional Utilities Eastside Operations Center. It is functional art, serving as something lovely to admire and contemplate as well as a patio space.