FAMILY OF KEVIN ROCHE DONATES OVER SIX DECADES OF PAPERS TO THE ARCHIVES AT YALE
The architectural papers of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates (KRJDA) now join the Eero Saarinen archive at Yale. Complementing this achievement is the creation of a legacy website for Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates which will serve as a readily available portal to the firm’s storied history of design which spanned from 1966 to 2019.
New Haven, CT, April 10, 2023 – The family of Kevin Roche is donating the complete written and drawn body of work created by the architectural firm of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates (KRJDA) to the Manuscripts and Archives division of the Yale University Library. Enjoined and encouraged by then Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert Stern, Kevin Roche initiated the archive project in 2007.
Referencing the recent completion of the project, Stern stated “The Kevin Roche archive is one of the most important resources for the study and appreciation of post-war architecture. International in scope and brilliantly occupying the crossroads of corporate post-modernism, it documents the work of a major talent.”
Kevin Roche’s eldest son, Eamon Roche, who is the Managing Director of the firm, now known as Roche Modern, added “Speaking on behalf of my siblings we are delighted to have been able to fulfill our father’s commitment to form this comprehensive archive of KRJDA’s mid to late 20th Century architecture. We are so grateful for Bob Stern’s instigation of the effort in the first place, to Yale for their partnership and of course for the fifteen years of documentation and cataloging put forward by the team at KRJDA.”
KRJDA’s Linda Scinto was the lead archivist responsible for editing, organizing, cataloging, packaging, and transferring the vast archive, which includes over 789 boxes of correspondence, 954 drawing tubes, 64,000 4x5 transparencies, and over 88,000 35mm slides. She began working in the office of KRJDA in 1997 as an interior designer and was Mr. Roche’s executive assistant from 2011 to 2019. In 2007, Kevin Roche designated Linda Scinto to manage the processing of 2,014 containers of KRJDA archival material for transfer to Yale University. The collection of project documentation includes eight museums, thirty-eight institutional and corporate headquarters, seven research laboratories, performing arts centers, theaters, campus buildings for six universities, several residences, and the Central Park Zoo.
“It was an honor to be chosen by Kevin Roche to be the lead archivist on such a monumental project,” Scinto stated “and I am delighted that people will be able to study the collection today and in the future.”An invaluable asset to scholars interested in KRJDA’s work, Scinto is available as a resource with firsthand experience of the collection and the people involved in its creation.
In conjunction with the donation of the physical archive, the Roche family is launching an archival website www.krjda.com directly linked to these materials with a detailed history of the firm, its principals, and the archival process.
The third and final component of this legacy project is the family’s creation, through the auspices of the Connecticut Architecture Foundation, of the Jane and Kevin Roche Scholarship Fund endowed to celebrate the lives and achievements of their parents.
Inquiries for Archivist Linda Scinto can be directed to: info@krjda.com
Direct access to Yale’s archive can be found at: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/4020
For information or to donate to the Jane and Kevin Roche Scholarship Fund, contact the Connecticut Architecture Foundation at: https://cafct.org/jane-kevin-roche-scholarship-fund/
About Roche Modern
The history of Roche Modern reaches back to Eero Saarinen and Associates, which was established in 1950. After Saarinen's passing in 1961, Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo continued the firm’s leadership. Together they worked to complete the remaining design of Saarinen’s major projects including the Dulles International Airport, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport as well as the CBS Headquarters in New York City. In 1966 the firm was renamed Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates and for decades continued the practice of architecture internationally and at the highest levels of the profession.
Roche’s eldest son Eamon joined Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates in 2018 in the role of Managing Director, a year before the death of his father. In 2021 Eamon Roche relaunched the seventy-year-old firm as Roche Modern from its new location in New Haven, CT.
More information at: www.rochemodern.com.
For more information regarding this announcement, please contact:
Roche Modern
Eric Miller
Marketing Officer
310-592-8230
emiller@rochemodern.com