Gabe Winter
In his days before taking his drafting board, T-square, and the such to Fort Worth-based Quorum Architects, Gabe Winter worked on a design project team as part of Perkins and Will in Dallas doing architectural design work at the campus of Baylor Scott & White in Irving.
Winter was the designer of a permanent public art light sculpture titled “Halo,” which greets visitors in the main lobby.
“It felt appropriate that we could design an art piece that, that created a balance with the architecture that we did,” Winter said.
Baylor Scott & White liked the art so much that officials there erected a sort-of gallery space that tells the story of its creation. It showcases Winter’s process and hand-rendered sketches in designing it.
"Halo," by Gabe Winter.
More than one observer, though, has pointed out to Winter that the circular undulated form of the sculpture looks more than a little bit “of what you would see from a cork screw” at a particular angle on a roller coaster. And perhaps the steel twist, the way certain elements are formed.
“I inadvertently created a form that was, you know, very similar to what you would see in a roller coaster,” Winter said. “And this was all in hindsight. I didn't realize I was doing this until someone pointed it out. But when you look at it, you could really see, like, yeah, I think there's something going on in the back of my mind of just why I'm so drawn to the kind of elegant form and shape making, and it might come from some of that love affair.”
Winter is a newly hired project manager at Quorum Architects, working on the firm’s municipal design team.
Winter, 37, a graduate of Texas Tech University, brings years of design expertise and creativity to the position, having worked at larger firms on multiple civic, higher education, healthcare, and public art projects.
“Gabe is incredibly creative and talented,” said Kim Dowdy-Hickman, principal. “His unique approach to design yields simple yet sophisticated solutions that our clients can embrace.”
He also brings a certain passion and dedication to a particular leisure pursuit.
Roller coasters. That love affair he mentioned is with roller coasters. He loves his significant other, too, and Yvonne is a convert to his infatuation. “She definitely rides with me, but I don’t think she’s as excited,” he jokes. “She is a civil engineer, so, she has kind of an eye for the built environment as well. And when you're a little closer to those machines it's pretty fascinating stuff.”
Winter is a roller-coaster aficionado. That’s a nice way of saying he’s a roller-coaster fanatic … nut. He has traveled the world looking for a new experience of suspense and a sense of danger, as well as unique design inspiration. Both are thrills for him.
Gabe Winter
It all started with a ride on the “Oblivion” at a theme park called Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. He had taken a trip there with his father. Alton Towers and its castle structures were the former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury. It was redeveloped into a theme park in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Gabe Winter
Gabe Winter and his girlfriend, Yvonne Krimmer, doing what they love best.
“Oblivion,” the world’s first vertical dive roller coaster, was erected in 1998. That was about the time the then-wide-eyed Winter, then 12 years old or so, looked up in awe at something he just had to conquer.
“My dad told me to go on there, and, man, it just freaked me out,” Winter said. “But from then on, I was kind of hooked with the thrill … that you could be that scared, but then still survive it and you go through all the emotions of what that entails, with the adrenaline rush and, the forces on your body and everything.”
It’s a 180-foot drop. Straight down. A shuttle on the ride weighs the same as a large elephant, the theme park’s marketers say.
Before the trip to Alton Towers, his dad took him to Legoland, a theme park in Windsor, also in England. It was more “family oriented” and their one coaster “wasn’t much to ride home about.”
“But once we got to Alton Towers and he put me on that thing, it was like, ‘Wow, now that’s what a roller coaster is.’ Ever since then I’ve just really been kind of addicted to finding more of that kind of Triple-A-type coaster. Or something that's a little bit bigger than normal … has a grandiose-kind of appeal to it. You know, it's breaking some type of record or whatnot.”
Winter has been on 130 rides, if his memory serves him well, traveling to California, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, of course, and Virginia, as well as Canada and the UK.
“I think that covers it,” he said.
Ever since that day at Alton Towers, Winter’s fascination with coasters has extended to makes, models, and manufacturers.
“I really became fascinated by the manufacturers,” he said. “How did they make this thing exist? That made me go down a whole avenue of research. It’s very much like car enthusiasts. You know all the brands and years they’re made.”
His current favorite is the “Iron Gwazi,” manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction, at Busch Gardens in Tampa. Busch Gardens was formerly an Anheuser-Busch brewery. One of the attractions to the park is that it’s home to thousands of animals, including the famed Clydesdales. They continually expanded its “safari” over the years.
“You can actually go out there and see everything … these free roaming animals. Then in the background you can hear the screams of people on roller coasters. It’s pretty interesting.”
On his list of to-do’s is the “Top Thrill 2,” the successor to “Top Thrill Dragster,” the tallest (more than 400 feet) and fastest (max speed 120 mph) in the world, according to Cedar Park, an amusement park in in Sandusky, Ohio.
“A 200-footer would be a hypercoaster,” he instructed. “A 300-footer would be a giga coaster, and anything over 400 feet is a strata. We haven’t gone beyond that yet. But, you know, this being the world’s first strata … .”
He has also made a hobby of sketching them. Sketching is part of his “bag of tricks.” His sketches of Texas coasters are a side business. You can view and buy them here. His Instagram account shows even more.
“I knew people would enjoy it. There's a void in the entertainment industry as a whole,” Winter said. “When you walk into a theme park souvenir shop, you don't see anything other than mugs or a T-shirt or something, but you don't really see art or a poster of a coaster. It's like they have all these assets, but they don't really tap into it.”
Gabe Winters' Top 10 Roller Coasters (2023 edition)
1. Iron Gwazi
Location: Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida
Manufacture: Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC)
2. Intimidator 305
Location: Kings Dominion, Doswell, Virgina
Manufacture: Intiman
3. Steel Vengeance
Location: Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio
Manufacture: Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC)
4. Velocicoaster
Location: Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida
Manufacture: Intiman
5. Nemesis (Original 1994 -2023)
Location: Alton Towers, Staffordshire, England
Manufacture: Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M)
6. Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast (Limited Reverse Train Orientation 2012-2022)
Location: Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington
Manufacture: Priemer Rides
7. Iron Rattler
Location: Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio
Manufacture: Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC)
8. Tatsu
Location: Six Flags Magic Mountain, Velencia, California
Manufacture: Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M)
9. Top Thrill Dragster (Original 2003 – 2021)
Location: Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio
Manufacture: Intiman
10. Switchback
Location: ZDT’s Amusement Park
Manufacture: The Gravity Group