Jane’s Carousel

The restoration of Jane’s Carousel involved no small amounts of time, energy, and funding. Upon completion, the project needed protection from the elements but the desired enclosure couldn’t mask the beauty of the carousel. The projects architect, Jean Nouvel, was adamant about using acrylic. He wanted vast expanses of protection without structural interruption.

These “vast expanses” of unimpeded views were realized in RPT’s Highly Engineered Acrylic panels engineered and custom manufactured to nearly 25 feet tall and an average of three feet wide set into accordion fold doors on the north and south sides of the structure, and several wall panels reaching more than 27 feet tall and nearly 10 feet wide on the east and west faces. The accordion-fold doors allow for pedestrian traffic flow around the carousel, as well as fresh air when the weather is nice.

The acrylic enclosure, on the whole, functions in two main ways: to protect the carousel from the elements year round, and to let riders inside see out, and those outside look in at the carousel,” said Roger R. Reynolds, III, CEO of RPT. “The structural strength of our acrylic allows for larger views that don’t get marred by too many steel supports for the panels.” Official Press Release Jane’s Carousel Website.