Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment A retrospective exhibition on view from June 16 through December 2, 2012

Transcription

1 KEVIN ROCHE: ARCHITECTURE AS ENVIRONMENT PRESS RELEASE Media Contact: Stacy Adamson, ext. 3458, Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment A retrospective exhibition on view from June 16 through December 2, 2012 Washington, D.C. Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment, an exhibition opening June 16, 2012, at the National Building Museum, explores the work of the celebrated, third-generation modernist Kevin Roche (b. 1922) whose architecture from urban oases and corporate campuses to megastructures and underground museums captures the spirit of the post-industrial age. This exhibition explores how the founding design partner at Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates has approached and solved design challenges for the nation s leading corporations and institutions, says Chase W. Rynd, the National Building Museum s president and executive director. Roche s clients have ranged from IBM, Union Carbide, and Merck to the United Nations, the Ford Foundation, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to images, drawings, and models, the exhibition features interviews with Roche and original slide presentations prepared for various clients. First recognized as Eero Saarinen s right-hand-man, Roche came into his own in the 1960s and quickly established himself as a big-picture thinker. He adopted an expansive definition of architecture that encompassed civic concerns such as transportation, infrastructure, and public space, as well as the broader economic and cultural landscape. His mastery of systems theory applied to architecture was especially appealing to corporate America. Roche is a leading member of the so-called Third Generation of modern architecture, which includes Robert Venturi (b. 1922) and James Stirling ( ). Roche is perhaps the most cerebral and systematic thinker in this group and can be credited, among other things, with introducing systems analysis into architecture, say exhibition organizers. Mr. Roche received the Pritzker Prize in 1982, the Gold Medal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1990, and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (1993), Firm Award (1974), and Twenty-Five Year Award (1995, for the Ford Foundation Headquarters). A native of Dublin, Roche grew up in County Cork and graduated from University College Dublin. He left Ireland for Chicago in 1948 to pursue a master s degree under pioneering modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology. While working on plans for the

2 U.N. headquarters in New York, Roche was recruited by Eero Saarinen to join his office in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The office later moved to Hamden, Connecticut, and when Saarinen died in 1961, Roche and firm partner John Dinkeloo ( ) led the completion of some of the firm s most iconic projects, among them the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Dulles International Airport. Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates was formally established in 1966 and over the past six decades the firm has realized dozens of significant large-scale projects, many abroad. In the United States, recent work includes several buildings for Lucent Technologies; Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center for Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( ); and Lafayette Tower in Washington, D.C. (2005 9). Major international projects include Shiodome City Center in Tokyo ( ); Ciudad Grupo Santander Headquarters, Madrid ( ); Headquarters for Bouygues S.A. Holding Company in Paris (2003 6); and the Dublin Conference Center in Ireland (2005 9). Roche also continues to work for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, carrying forward his 1971 master plan under three successive directors, completing different interventions to the building complex, while revisiting early portions of the project, such as the American Wing, which reopened in Roche has also contributed to the expansion, renovation, and designs of several other notable New York cultural landmarks, such as the Central Park Zoo, the Jewish Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. Washington, D.C. is home to a number of Roche-designed buildings including 1101 New York Avenue NW, Station Place adjacent to Union Station (F and 2nd Streets NE), and Lafayette Tower (801 17th Street NW), completed in 2009 the first commercial office building in the nation s capital to achieve LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. All three of these works as well as the proposed National Fisheries Center and Aquarium, an unbuilt project for the U.S. Department of the Interior, are featured in the exhibition. The National Building Museum will feature programming related to Kevin Roche and his work throughout the duration of the exhibition. Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment is organized by the Yale School of Architecture and curated by Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen. ASSA ABLOY is the lead sponsor of Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment. Additional Support for the exhibition is provided by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Carolyn Brody, Property Group Partners, Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, and an anonymous donor. MEDIA CONTACT

3 For more information about the exhibition and press images, please contact Stacy Adamson, ext and ABOUT THE NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM The National Building Museum is America s leading cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. Through its exhibitions, educational programs, online content, and publications, the Museum has become a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the world people build for themselves. Public inquiries: or visit Connect with us on and Facebook.

4 An exhibition at the National Building Museum June 16 December 2, 2012 Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment is organized by the Yale School of Architecture. Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche Ford Foundation Headquarters Model College Life Insurance Company Headquarters Station Place 1 Ford Foundation Headquarters Temple of Dendur 1101 New York Avenue NW Lafayette Tower Press Image Sheet Media Contact Stacy Adamson, Marketing and Communications Associate ext / sadamson@nbm.org NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM 401 F Street NW Washington, DC /

5 An exhibition at the National Building Museum June 16 December 2, 2012 Usage: Images are provided exclusively to the press to publicize the exhibition. All published images must include our crediting and copyright information. Eero Saarinen (left) and Kevin Roche (right) working on a model for the TWA Terminal, c Courtesy of Eero Saarinen Collection; Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library Kevin Roche inserting the curtain wall into a scale model of the Ford Foundation Headquarters, c Ford Foundation Headquarters, New York, New York, 1968 Ezra Stoller/Esto College Life Insurance Company Headquarters, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1971 Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 1979 Station Place 1, Washington, D.C., 2004 Immediately adjacent to Washington s Beaux Arts-styled Union Station, Station Place 1 features an 80-foot high atrium and is currently home to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., 2007 Three façades of this LEED Gold office building feature a 20-foot-cantilever and clear glass curtain wall. Lafayette Tower, Washington, D.C., Completed in 2009, Lafayette Tower at th Street NW with stunning views of the White House was the first commercial office building in Washington, D.C., to achieve LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Press Image Sheet Media Contact Stacy Adamson, Marketing and Communications Associate ext / sadamson@nbm.org NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM 401 F Street NW Washington, DC /