Ken Gurrera loves a challenge.
But the nearly five-year employee of the campus maintenance staff never thought he would build a 20-foot-tall mock-up of the university’s first obelisk and garner the attention of the local media.
“I watched the newscasts and told my family that was me the shot that had the back of somebody’s head way off in the distance,” Gurrera said.
Gurrera was just fine being off-camera as reporters instead focused on his work, a plywood, Styrofoam and two-by-four obelisk mock-up constructed in the university’s shops and assembled Monday in the median of Austin Bluffs Parkway.
Gurrera said he wasn’t nervous as the obelisk came together like a giant Tinker Toy while Dave Schnabel, director, Facilities Services, Brian Burnett, vice chancellor, Administration and Finance, architects, City of Colorado Springs traffic engineers, and media watched.
“I knew what was under the skin, including the half-inch bolts holding it together,” Guerra said. “It wasn’t going anywhere but up.”
Most days, Gurrera’s work is far less visible. A carpenter by training, he uses his love of woods to keep the campus working smoothly. But some of his best work is rarely seen by those outside of the Facilities Services Department. Examples include stairs and shelves built inside mechanical rooms and to access rooftop coolers as well as furniture used in the department.
But when approached by Schnabel about building the high-profile obelisk, Gurrera didn’t hesitate to give it a try.
“He (Schnabel) turned me loose,” Gurrera said. “I love it when that happens.”
Using a computer design as a guide, Gurrera used available materials to follow the design but with adjustments as he built a base, slab sides, a pyramidal point and, from pieces of Styrofoam insulation, medallions to represent the university seal. Assembled with screws to ease disassembly and with the assistance of two student employee helpers, Gurrera is pleased with the results. He doesn’t even mind that some of his colleagues are already looking at the disassembled obelisk mock up and thinking of more utilitarian tasks for the heap of boards.
“Even if I have to cut up the wood for shelving, I’ll still be able to look at that wood and know that it was once something beautiful,” Gurrera said.
To see the obelisk, visit http://www.uccs.edu/~ur/media/mediawatch/view_article.php?y=mediawatch_articles&article_id=15275