Alumnus' Engineering Legacy Spans the Globe
Gary Curtis designs several famous structures
By: Andy Hanson
Gary Curtis ('59) designed the foundation and top house for the Seattle Space Needle, the famous Roller Coaster Bridge in Calif., and has worked on the South Pole Dome, among other things.
The South Pole Dome, which Curtis was asked to investigate after it sat on slow-moving ice for 20 years.
Gary Curtis’ engineering legacy spans from the top of the Space Needle to the Southern Pole. Curtis graduated from then Walla Walla College in 1959 with a degree in civil engineering, and over the course of his career he has been involved in a number of notable engineering projects. Those projects include the Seattle Space Needle, the Queensway Bridge and the Spruce Goose Dome, among others. In addition, Curtis is one of the three founders of Gossamer Space Frames, a successful civil engineering firm.
Walla Walla University’s influence on his career extended above and beyond learning the fundamentals of civil engineering.
“In order to graduate in engineering you had to work hard,” he says. “Just being smart wasn’t enough. Grades were based on tests and completion of assignments, so being able to produce results was essential.”
During his time at WWU, Curtis worked as the editor of the Mountain Ash, all the while taking 22 credits.
“That experience taught me critical skills in organization, editing, managing a staff and budget, and how to meet deadlines,” he says, “and all of it has been essential to my career.”
His first engineering job after graduating was as a designer for a small engineering firm in Los Angeles, Calif. Shortly after that he took a job with John Minasian, a consulting structural engineer specializing in tall structures, such as television towers. It was at this job that Curtis was tasked to engineer the foundation and top house for the Seattle Space Needle, which made its debut in 1962 for the World’s Fair.
Since that time Curtis has been involved in a number of other notable projects. The Queensway Bridge in Long Beach, Calif., was voted the most beautiful bridge in the country in 1971, and the city’s Roller Coaster Bridge, a 450-foot long pedestrian bridge suspended from "roller coaster" structural frame, has become an icon. Curtis also investigated the structural integrity of the South Pole Dome after it had been sitting for 20 years on 10,000 feet of slow-moving ice.
Curtis’ engineering firm, Gossamer Space Frames, has a patented Coaxial Joint System, which is a framing technology used in building everything from communication towers to roller coasters. The company created a space frame system to support the special mirrors for concentrated solar thermal parabolic troughs, which have been used at solar energy plants in Nevada and Florida, as well as in Spain.
On a personal note, Gary has used his engineering expertise to design and build his own 45-foot steel schooner, the Silver Lining. He drew and then cut out the design on 40 foot by 8 foot steel plates, much like a dress pattern. His first trip in his boat was to Catalina Island. He has since sailed in the Sea of Cortez and from California to Washington. His daughter and her family are currently sailing that boat to New Zealand and Tahiti.
When asked what he would tell aspiring engineers at WWU Curtis said, “Talk to strangers. Be willing to take on any assignment. Read widely. Be curious. Get in a challenging English Comp or journalism class. Being able to prepare a well-written, clear and concise report is more valuable than you might ever dream.”
To learn more about Curtis or Gossamer Space Frames, click the appropriate link below.
Last update on March 1, 2011
