Boyce won a competition to provide a focal point for the entrance to the Olympic Oval. Because it was commissioned for the 1988 Winter Olympics, Boyce constructed the model to be 1988 cm high.
Spire depicts the progression of human evolution: crawling, walking, running, jumping, and flying. The outline of the Spire references both a space ship and a steeple. The space ship symbolizes human desire to explore the universe, and the steeple symbolizes the human propensity for self-discovery--to look at oneself within the universe, or the universe within ourselves.