Jane's Carousel

Umkirch, February 21, 2012

A beautiful historic carousel has since last fall been part of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the new waterfront park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. The 1922 carousel was salvaged from a closed-down amusement park by Jane Walentas, who spent years lovingly restoring the 48 intricately carved and painted wooden horses.

Ms. Walentas and her husband, developer David Walentas, commissioned the renowned architect Jean Nouvel to design a transparent pavilion to protect the carousel and allow it to operate all year round.

By day the carousel is enjoyed by children and adults alike, rain or shine (in good weather paneled doors of the east and west walls can be opened). By night Nouvel's jewel-box pavilion is dramatically transformed: Four Gerriets STRATUS vertical-lift systems (20 m wide x 8 m high) bring down translucent white Ripstop fabric screens to cover the windows, the box is illuminated from within by 1,200 lights, and giant projected silhouettes of the horses revolve across the pavilion all through the night, in view of the bridges, streets, sidewalks, and nearby apartments.

Gerriets headquaters manufacturing facility and our American subsidiary, Gerriets International (GI), worked in close partnership to accommodate a compressed construction schedule: from the time the order was placed, the STRATUS systems and Ripstop fabric screens were delivered to New York via a 2.5 ton air-freight shipment and installed by GI within 4 weeks.

See the shadow show for yourself...