The ten buildings that Roche and Dinkeloo inherited from Saarinen were projects that they had been centrally involved in designing and included some of the most significant American buildings of the period, sharing innovative approaches to technology and new materials: the Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri; the TWA Terminal, New York City; Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.; the Headquarters for John Deere and Company in Moline, Illinois; and the CBS Headquarters in New York.

The first project awarded to the new practice was the Oakland Museum (1961–68) in California. Eero Saarinen had been on the original list of architects being considered for the project, and Roche Dinkeloo, who asked to be considered after his death, was selected from a group of 35 architects. Their award-winning museum design included landscaped roofs that created a new park at the heart of the city. Over the next 20 years, the practice grew to become one of the most vital American offices of that era, designing a wide range of different building types for both civic and corporate clients.

The most significant buildings designed by Roche Dinkeloo include a series of university facilities, the office tower (1965–69) for the Knights of Columbus together with the neighboring Coliseum (1965–72) in New Haven, and arguably the most important, the Headquarters for the Ford Foundation (1963–68) in New York. These monumental buildings made innovative use of novel materials such as glass, advanced glazing systems, and self-rusting steel while at the same time exploiting the potential of structural forms as large-scale ordering systems. Projects such as the factories and offices for Cummins Engine in Darlington, England (1963–65), and later at Columbus, Indiana (1970–73), developed these ideas in ways that improved the industrial working environment, whereas a series of designs for corporate headquarters for RichardsonMerrell Inc. (1970–74), Union Carbide (1976–82), and General Foods (1977–82) explored the needs of large new office buildings sited in green-field sites by integrating offices and parking within the landscape.

In 1967, Roche Dinkeloo began work on the renovation and extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a project that would extend over more than 30 years. In addition to a new gallery wing and a bookshop, a series of glassy pavilions were designed for the Robert Lehman Collection in 1974 and subsequently for the Temple of Dendur.

Since Dinkeloo’s death, Roche has directed the practice with a group of associates and continued the design for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, creating new galleries and restoring the existing building. The work of Roche’s office has become increasingly preoccupied with formal issues and the development of a historicist eclecticism.

Roche and Dinkeloo were the recipients of numerous honors and awards. In 1974, they received the Architectural Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and eight years later Roche was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 1995, the Ford Foundation Headquarters received the AIA’s Twenty-Five-Year Award for an outstanding building of distinction.

BRIAN CARTER

Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.3 (P-Z).  Fitzroy Dearborn., 2005.

1922 Born in Dublin, 14 June;

1940–45 Attended the National University of Ireland, Dublin;

1945 Bachelor’s degree in architecture;

1945–46 Designer, Michael Scott and Partners, Dublin;

1946 Architect, the firm of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, London;

1947–48 Designer, Michael Scott and Partners, Dublin;

1948 Emigrated to the United States;

1948–49 Postgraduate studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago;

1949 Architect, United Nations Planning Office, New York;

1950–66 Associate, Eero Saarinen and Associates;

1954–61 Principal associate in design, Eero Saarinen and Associates;

1964 Naturalized U.S. citizen;

1968–71 Member, Board of Trustees, American Academy in Rome;

1969–71 Member, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC;

1969 Member, Commission of Fine Arts, Washington, DC;

Academician, National Academy of Design;

Member, Royal Institute of British Architects;

Member, Académie d’Architecture, France;

Member, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Italy;

Honorary fellow, Institute of Architects of Ireland;

Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates continued under the direction of Roche;

March 1, 2019 Died in Guilford, Connecticut, USA;

John Gerard Dinkeloo 

1918 Born in Holland, Michigan, 28 February;

1936–39 Attended Hope College, Holland;

1939–42 Studied at the University of Michigan School of Architecture, Ann Arbor;

1942 Bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering;

1942–43 Designer, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Chicago;

1946–50 Chief of production, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Chicago;

1950–56 Head of production, Eero Saarinen and Associates, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan;

1956–61 Partner, Eero Saarinen and Associates, Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, Michigan;

1961–66 Partner, Eero Saarinen and Associates, Hamden, Connecticut;

Trustee, Hope College;

June 15, 1981 Died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA;

Roche and Dinkeloo

1966 Partnership established in Hamden, Connecticut as Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates;

1977 Grand Gold Medal, French Academy of Architects;

1982 Pritzker Prize.

Futagawa, Yukio, Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Associates, 1962–1975, Tokyo: A.D.A.Edita, and Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1975; New York: Architectural Press, 1977

Heyer, Paul, Architects on Architecture: New Directions in America, New York: Walker, 1966; London: Allen Lane, 1967; new enlarged edition, New York: Walker, 1978

Scully, Vincent, Modern Architecture, New York: Braziller, 1956; London: Prentice Hall, 1961; revised edition, New York: Braziller, 1974

Scully, Vincent, American Architecture and Urbanism, New York: Praeger, and London: Thames and Hudson, 1969; revised edition, New York: Holt, 1988

Tafuri, Manfredo and Francesco Dal Co, Architettura contemporanea, Milan: Electa, 1976; as Modern Architecture, translated by Robert Erich Wolf, New York: Abrams, 1979

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