James S. Rossant designed the new town of Reston, Virginia, and completed its master plan in 1963. Rossant also designed the First Village Center in Reston which opened in 1966. The master plan pioneered and introduced many innovative planning ideas, including the new town around seven village centers and a town center. Then in 1967, Rossant joined with William Conklin to form Conklin and Rossant Architects and continued working on Reston. The partnership lasted until 1995. Following that William Conklin joined with Michael Costantin to form Conklin Costantin Architects. James Rossant has since become the president of James Rossant Architects which was created in 1995. Rossant has recently acted as a consultant to Lake Anne Village and has guided the renovation of some of its buildings and sculpture.

William J. Conklin was born on May 2, 1923 in Hebron, Nebraska. He studied architecture at Harvard University, graduating in 1950 with a M.Arch. Shortly following his graduation, he began work at the IBEC Corporation in New York City. By 1951, however, Conklin left IBEC and joined the architectural firm of Mayer, Whittlesey and Glass as an architectural designer. In 1958 he became associate partner of Mayer, Whittlesey and Glass. In 1960 William J. Conklin became partner of the architecture firm under the new name of Whittlesey and Conklin. He continued at the same architectural firm, renamed Conklin and Rossant in 1967.

Reston, Virginia was founded by Robert E. Simon with the intention of creating a Planned Community or New Town in the Northern Virginia area. In order to design a town that reflected Simon's specific goals, he hired the architectural firm Whittlesey and Conklin, which became the primary architects of Reston. In 1962, Whittlesey and Conklin created a master plan for the development. It called for seven Village Centers to be connected by high density residential "sinews," or concentrations of housing units. The Village Centers, themselves, were designed to comprise mixed-use space, incorporating public and private areas into a single Village Center. For example, in the first Village Center at Lake Anne, apartments and townhouses were built adjacent to shops and public recreation spaces.

By 1963 construction had begun on the first Village Center, Lake Anne. Surrounding Lake Anne are several different building designs. A large pedestrian walking area, a sculptured fountain, and shops were built in this space. Apartments were built above the shops. Once again, this arrangement reflects the mixed-use intentions of the architects.The architects tried to anticipate all the needs of persons using the Lake Anne Village Center. For example, they designed sculptures that were also used by children for recreation.