Kevin Roche (1922-2019)

After completing his architectural studies at the University College Dublin, Eamonn Kevin Roche came to the United States to study with Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was recruited by Eero Saarinen and joined the firm of Saarinen, Saarinen and Associates, which subsequently became Eero Saarinen and Associates. He became the Principal Design Associate of Eero Saarinen and assisted him on all of the office projects until Eero’s death. The practice was then taken over by Joseph Lacy, John Dinkeloo, and Kevin Roche. The remaining design of the twelve major projects on which Mr. Saarinen had been working at the time of his death were completed by Roche. These projects included the TWA Flight Center at Idlewild Airport; Dulles International Airport Terminal, Virginia; the St. Louis Arch; CBS Headquarters, New York; Deere and Company Headquarters, Moline, Illinois; Bell Telephone Laboratory in Holmdel, New Jersey; the Vivian Beaumont Repertory Theater at Lincoln Center, New York; and the Ezra Styles and Samuel F. B. Morse Colleges, Yale University.

As the partnership agreement with Eero Saarinen required that his work be finished under his name, it was not possible to change the name of the firm until 1966, when it became Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates. In 1961, John Dinkeloo and Kevin Roche were successful in receiving the commission for the Oakland Museum, in competition with 37 other architectural firms. Thus began Kevin Roche’s remarkable career as one of the most versatile, productive, and distinguished architects of our time.

John Dinkeloo died in June of 1981; and Mr. Roche continued the practice with the original firm name and two new partners, Philip Kinsella and James Owens, who assumed John Dinkeloo's responsibilities for project and technical management.

In all, Kevin Roche designed 38 institutional and corporate headquarters, 8 museums and a number of other building types, including creative art centers, performing art centers, conference centers, research laboratories, campus buildings for 6 universities, factories, houses, and the Central Park Zoo in New York. For 47 years, he was the architect for the Master Plan of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, designing all of its new wings and installing many of its collections.

Mr. Roche was a registered architect in 20 states and has certification with the National Council of Registration Boards. Projects were commissioned in six Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore), six European countries (England, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, and Turkey), one in Egypt, and in 18 states in the USA.

The work of Kevin Roche has been the subject of special exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Architectural Association of Ireland in Dublin, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. The exhibition Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment opened at the Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut and ran from February 7 to May 6, 2011. The traveling exhibit was viewed at The Museum of the City of New York, New York, and at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

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 served, are an extension of his lifetime dedicated to public service and his finely developed sense of place.

With his wife Jane and five children he lived and practiced in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1961 until his death in 2019.

John Dinkeloo (1918-1981)

John Gerard Dinkeloo, an internationally known architect and engineer credited with some of the major technical developments in modern architecture was born in Holland, Michigan on February 28, 1918. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1941 with a Bachelor of Architecture in Architectural Engineering. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion during World War II. After the war Dinkeloo became the Head of Production for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in Chicago. A registered engineer as well as an architect, licensed to practice in numerous states, he frequently delivered technical papers before professional societies.

In 1950, John joined Eero Saarinen and Associates to head up the construction of the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, at the time one of the largest and most technically sophisticated post-war projects. He became a partner in that firm in 1956. After Saarinen’s sudden death in 1961, he continued the firm with Joseph N. Lacy and Kevin Roche, completing ten major projects including the TWA terminal building at J. F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, New York; the Dulles International Airport, Washington D.C.; the Deere and Company headquarters building, Moline, Illinois; the CBS Headquarters building, New York, New York; and the Gateway Arch Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. The firm became Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates in 1966 and was responsible for many widely acclaimed buildings, including the Oakland Museum, California; Ford Foundation, New York; Hotel and Office Building, One U.N. Plaza, New York; and all of the new wings and master plan for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Mr. Dinkeloo was widely respected and frequently consulted by his peers. Among the major technical innovations with which he is credited are the use of structural neoprene gaskets for the fastening and sealing of exterior walls, the use of high strength, low alloy weathering steel for the exposed structure of buildings and bridges and, probably the most significant, the use of laminate metalized glass in the exterior walls of buildings which substantially reduces energy requirements. This glass is seen in the hundreds of mirror-like buildings around the country.

With his wife Thelma VanDyke and seven children he lived and practiced in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1961 until his death in 1981.

Partners & Senior Design Associates

Following the death of John Dinkeloo, Phil Kinsella and James P. Owen Jr. worked alongside Kevin Roche as Managing Partners at the firm.

Philip Kinsella

A partner of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates from 1982 to 2015, Philip Kinsella was in charge of numerous corporate headquarters and research facilities, as well as multi-building and mixed use projects. He was intimately involved with programming, design coordination, contract negotiations, administration, and client liaison. He was responsible for the technical staff and contract documents at Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, a role he began at Eero Saarinen & Associates in 1958.

James P. Owen Jr

James P. Owens extensive experience spanned all phases of architectural practice. He was involved in a variety of building projects, from corporate and commercial office buildings to educational and research facilities, museums, and cultural institutions in the United States and abroad. He was a partner of the firm from 1982 to 2015. He joined Eero Saarinen & Associates the predecessor of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates in 1957.

To see a full list of associates, please click here.

Staff

The firm employed more than 700 employees over the course of its 53 year history.
Notable alumnae include Cesar Pelli, Robert Venturi, and Warren Platner.
Click here for a full staff list. If your name is missing, please contact us.

Awards & Honors

For a full list of awards, please click here