Photo credit: Louis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
Gayla was invited to co-lead a staircase design and engineering symposium with Manufacturers Association President Steven Guenzel and Erik Farrington, associate principal with the architectural firm Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc., for the [NAME OF CONFERENCE] held at the La Fonda in April. The Stairbuilders and Manufacturers Association was drawn to Santa Fe by the opportunity to ponder the mystery of the corkscrew stairs within the Loretto Chapel.
The topic of the symposium’s case study was “Loretto Staircase — How Would it be Built Today?”
The stairs still leave some engineers puzzled. It’s not clear even to them how they would do it today, said Bechtol, who was awarded a New Mexico Historic Preservation Award for her work on the Santa Fe Railyard. “It is still a challenging engineering problem.
– GAYLA BECHTOL
In May 2019 Gayla was interviewed by CNA about the Loretto Staircase. Listen to her insights at the 8.45-minute mark.
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