Kevin Roche

Born in Dublin in 1922, Eamonn Kevin Roche had an extraordinary career working with some of the most revered practitioners of the 20th century before becoming one of the world’s most renowned architects.

His father, Eamonn was active during the War of Independence and Civil War and became a Sinn Féin TD. In 1925 the family moved to Mitchelstown, where Roche senior had accepted a job as manager with Dairygold.

Kevin grew up in Mitchelstown and attended senior school at Rockwell College.

He was accepted at UCD to study architecture and after graduating in 1941 his first commission was to design a piggery at the Mitchelstown Dairygold plant.

He worked in London for a while before being accepted by the Illinois Institute of Technology. He later became an apprentice under renowned Finnish architect Eero Saarinen It was here that he also met his future practice partner John Dinkeloo. In 1961 Saarinen died suddenly with a number of major projects unfinished so Roche, Dinkeloo and their colleagues set about completing them. These included the iconic arch in St Louis and the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport. In 1966 Roche and Dinkeloo set up their own practise, their first commission being the Oakland Museum of California, They went on to design many iconic and ground breaking buildings. Following Dinkeloo’s death Roche continued as head of the firm designing more than 50 major projects, including the tallest building in Atlanta, major extensions to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Dublin’s convention centre. Roche was recognised with numerous awards for his work including the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, He passed away earlier this month at the age of 96.