Located in Hamden, Connecticut, the firm of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates is a direct outgrowth of Eero Saarinen and Associates. In the spring of 1950, Kevin Roche joined Eero Saarinen’s office and soon became his principal design associate. When Saarinen died in 1961, Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, who had been in charge of production documents, took over the practice and completed the twelve major design projects Mr. Saarinen had been working on at the time of his death. These included Dulles International Airport, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, and the CBS Headquarters in NewYork. In 1966, the firm became Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates.
One of the firm’s first major commissions under its new name was the Oakland Museum of California. Many projects followed ranging from corporate offices and campuses to museums, cultural institutions, hotels, and performing arts centers. In 1974, the firm was the recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ Architectural Firm Award, and in 1995 it received the American Institute of Architects’ Twenty-five Year Award for the Ford Foundation Headquarters in New York City.
John Dinkeloo died in June of 1981, and Kevin Roche continues the practice with two managing partners, Philip Kinsella and James Owens. There is a total staff of 65, including the 3 partners, 15 design/managing associates, 39 architects and designers, 8 support staff. Of these, 32 are registered architects. The 15 design/managing associates have an average time associated with the firm of over 34 years, with 20 years as a minimum.
Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates is engaged in major projects throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The firm provides complete master planning, programming, architectural design, interior design, working drawings, specifications, and construction administration services. All projects currently employ the latest design techniques, presentation media, and CAD production equipment. KevinRoche John Dinkeloo and Associates’ familiarity and utilization of electronic techniques for the past 13 years has been highly successful throughout the entire design, production, and administration phases.
Over 35 million square feet of space have been designed for museums, performing arts and visual arts centers, cultural institutions, corporate headquarters and office buildings, training centers, hotels, education facilities, manufacturing facilities, and research laboratories. The result of this extensive experience, which has also included working with major institutions, corporations, developers, consultants, and prominent worldwide contractors and construction managers, is a highly successful history of design of efficient, cost effective, energy conscious, technically sophisticated, and architecturally significant buildings.
Architecture is an achievement that comes from the commitment of the owner
and the understanding of the architect that the work to be realized will be
a response not only to the immediate requirements but also to the broader concerns
of the community, the accommodation of the natural and cultural etnvironment,
and the belief that the final responsibility is not only to the use, and the
community, but ultimately to posterity.
— Kevin Roche
Following in the footsteps of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and Eero Saarinen,
his dynamic civic centerpieces, inspiring yet comfortable backdrops for the
people they serve, are an extension of his lifetime dedication to the public
service and his finely developed sense of place.
— The American Institute of Architects
The 1993 Gold Medal
Kevin Roche in all his endeavors practices a special kind of alchemy wherein
he employs with breathtaking virtuosity the technical resources of our time
to create forms and spaces appropriate to our time that splendidly accommodate
the new institutional programs of our time.
— American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
1990 Gold Medal for Architecture
He is no easy man to describe: an innovator who does not worship innovation
for itself, a professional unconcerned with trends, a quiet humble man who conceives
and executes great works, a generous man of strictest standards for his own
work.
— The 1982 Pritzker Prize
His architecture couples a fine plastic spirit with an uncompromising discipline
of order. This happy blend of creativity and reason is rare among his contemporaries.
— American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
The 1966 Brunner Prize in Architecture