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At 7:30 a.m., most GTE Telephone Operations employees are just beginning to arrive at the company's new world headquarters in Irving, Texas. Not Gordon Gayda. By sunup on this unusually cool morning in early fall, Gayda has walked much of the corporate campus, explored the 2.2 million-sq.ft. facility's winding link, and climbed to the rooftop for a panoramic view of Las Colinas.
And the day had just begun. Sitting in the rotunda of the west building at 8:15 a.m., Gayda marvels at the prairie setting just outside the 9-1/2-ft. floor-to-ceiling glass walls. "Look at the views. You control it," Gayda says with a big grin. He clearly delights in telling stories about the place employees now call Hidden Ridge.
DESIGN-BUILD ON A WING AND A PRAYER
His energy seems boundless. But then again, Gayda, AIA, project director for GTE Real, the institutional real estate group of GTE Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut, has a lot to be excited about. It was Gayda's enthusiasm and drive that propelled his project team forward during the design-build development of the GTE Telephone Operations World Headquarters--an experience that one team member refers to as rabid-paced. By September 1991,just two years after groundbreaking, all 2,800 employees had taken up residence in the high-tech facility, a milestone unrivalled by any for both the company and Gayda himself. "This was the biggest thing that GTE had ever undertaken in design and construction. It is the largest project in the company's history, and it doubled the portfolio of GTE Real," says Gayda.
In his normal capacity for GTE Service Corp., Gayda is director of design and construction management for corporate real estate. Prior to joining GTE five years ago, he amassed experience with major A/E firms and spent 13 pears as director of corporate premises for Canadian Pacific in Montreal.
As project director for GTE Realty, his involvement in the GTE Telephone Operations project (see feature story that follows) represented the opportunity of a lifetime. It would command his full attention for three years, necessitate a move from Connecticut to Texas after commuting for one year, and require six-or seven-day work weeks.
"What was most exciting? The exciting thing was the anxiety. Were you going to get the project finished? Could you get...