Roche-Dinkeloo


Roche Dinkeloo, otherwise known as Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates LLC , was an architectural firm based in Hamden, Connecticut. It was created in 1966, succeeding Eero Saarinen & Associates. In 2020, it relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, and took the name Roche Modern.

About

The principal designers were 1982 Pritzker Prize laureate Kevin Roche, with John Dinkeloo—a graduate of the University of Michigan—as the expert in construction and technology. Both had previously worked for Eero Saarinen's architecture firm, Eero Saarinen & Associates. Saarinen, who died in 1961, had wanted his architectural practice to be renamed no later than five years after his death. Accordingly, in 1966, Saarinen & Associates was rebranded as Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates. After Roche's death, the firm relaunched in 2020 as Roche Modern under director Jerry Boryca and managing director Eamon Roche. The firm is now based out of New Haven, Connecticut.
Roche and Dinkeloo both previously worked with Eero Saarinen. Almost all buildings built by Roche are with this firm, and they exhibit his particular architecture and aesthetic, although it has changed wildly throughout the past 40 years. Earlier buildings were characterized by massive facades and experimentation with exposed steel and concrete, while more recent buildings emphasize a clean, glassy look suggesting futuristic and green architecture. The firm also built in postmodern and historicist styles during the early 1990s.
The firm received the American Institute of Architects 1974 Architectural Firm Award and in 1995 the firm was the recipient of the American Institute of Architect's 25-Year Award for the Ford Foundation Headquarters in New York City. In 1982, Kevin Roche received the Pritzker Prize and in 1993, he received the AIA Gold Medal. In 2015 Kevin Roche received the George Malcolm White Award from the American Architectural Foundation. Kevin Roche has been referred to as the "first to see architecture and nature as one."

Projects

KRJDA has completed over 200 projects in the US and internationally. These include 8 museums, 38 institutional and corporate headquarters, 7 research laboratories, conference and performing arts centers, theaters, and campus buildings for 6 separate universities. KRJDA maintained its office in Hamden, Connecticut.

Film

A feature documentary about Kevin Roche and his work, called Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect, was released in 2017. It is directed by Irish filmmaker Mark Noonan whose 2015 debut feature You're Ugly Too starred Aidan Gillen and was met with critical acclaim.

Notable buildings