Book Launch: Design Brooklyn by Anne Hellman and Michel Arnaud, with Jane Walentas, Lucas Rubin, and Chris McVoy

Jane Walentas is responsible for the 25 year restoration of a magnificent, hand-carved 1920’s carousel known as “Jane’s Carousel.” Situated in Brooklyn Bridge Park, the carousel is nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges in an exciting pavilion designed by acclaimed architect Jean Nouvel. “Jane’s Carousel” has become an icon on the Brooklyn waterfront.

Jane worked for many years as an Art Director in Advertising Design, with numerous design positions on major consumer brands. She worked mostly in the cosmetic industry for Elizabeth Arden, Avon and for many years at Estee Lauder. She moved to New York after working for Testa Publicita in Torino Italy. Originally from Teaneck, N.J., Jane graduated from Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia in 1966 with a BFA in Advertising Design and received an MFA in printmaking from NYU in 1985.

For years , Jane has participated with her husband David and their son Jed in pioneering the development of the DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn. Jane serves on the Board of Directors at Moore College, where she has recently established a fully endowed 4-year scholarship and internnational travel fellowship. The Walentas’ live and work (and play) in DUMBO, except on weekends, when they head to their farm Two Trees Stables, a show horse and polo facility in Bridgehampton, L.I.

Lucas Rubin has had a lifelong fascination with the evolution of the built environment, in particular the “lives” of buildings – how they’re designed, built, and the ways in which they are transformed from their original functions to assume others. He holds a PhD. in Classics with a specialization in Roman archaeology from the University of Buffalo and his dissertation focused on the impact of repeated fires on the urban fabric of ancient Rome. During the day he is the Director of Columbia University’s Graduate Program in Sports Management. His interest in Brooklyn is self-taught and lifelong — among his fondest memories of a childhood spent in Park Slope was that trolley tracks were still visible in Seventh Avenue. He is the author of Brooklyn’s Sportsmen’s Row: Politics, Society and the Sporting Life on Northern Eighth Avenue (History Press, 2012).

Chris McVoy formed O’Neill McVoy Architects with Beth O’Neill in 2012 to make sensate architecture by illuminating the latent potential of a project’s contingencies – the special qualities of site and the program’s highest aspiration. OM Architects aims for an Architecture that transforms the everyday through contours of space and material, animated by light in time. Current projects include transforming a midtown loft building for creative offices, and the Bronx Children’s Museum Kids’ Powerhouse Discovery Center. Chris is also the Senior Partner of Steven Holl Architects where he has co-designed with Steven Holl several internationally recognized, award-winning projects including The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art Bloch Building, Kansas City; The University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, Iowa City; Columbia University Campbell Sports Center, New York; Stadgenoot Office Headquarters, Amsterdam; and the Glasgow School of Art New Building, Glasgow.  Chris holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University.