Spiral rebar layouts are very common in circular columns, especially in area of high seismic activity. It's a bit more difficult to manufacture than the alterna

Spiral rebar layouts are very common in circular columns, especially in area of high seismic activity. It's a bit more difficult to manufacture than the alternative (evenly-spaced "hoops"), but it gives the column higher ductility during a failure event so that the affected people inside/on the structure have more time to escape. http://www.insteel.com/media/8177/Spirals%20Brochure%20wo%20Back%20Page.pdf http://www.insteel.com/media/8177/Spirals%20Brochure%20wo%20... Edit: I have to admit, I didn't look too closely at the photo until just now. That is a weird thing they're doing, but I could see it possibly being useful for fancy architectural columns, even decorative ones. (I suppose that sort of application is where they're likely to find early adopters.)