The site for the project, which sits beside Rothberg's home, was a former granite quarry that had been filled in years ago. In determining what to do with the property, Rothberg was referred to sculptor Darrell Petit by renowned architect Cesar Pelli. “He had the idea to create a sophisticated astrological clock,†Petit explained. “It is based on certain astro-archeological concepts of Stonehenge. We did not deny history. I visited Stonehenge numerous times to learn from the concepts, from the stone usage and from the experience of the site to be able to create our project specific to our site and our ideas.â€
Ultimately, this project would utilize over 700 tons of Blue Pearl Fjord granite, quarried by Lundhs Labrador AS of Larvik, Norway. “We wanted to build a monolith with the greatest ability to predict solar and celestial events,†Petit said. “Think of the Circle of Life as a complex watch -- a modern day monolith that exhibits beauty and functionality and demonstrates that these structures can function as powerful astrological instruments with substantial predictive abilities. I helped give form and material to the idea, and it started to become a reality in our minds. Then there was the next part of the process of finding the team and of orchestrating the process to build it.â€