One of Roche's most acclaimed designs is the Ford Foundation in New York City. The structure is of glass, rust-colored steel and warm brown granite providing offices around a spacious 12 story atrium.
The Ford Foundation headquarters in New York is located between 42nd and 43rd streets a few blocks southeast of the Chrysler Building, this building is oriented on a diagonal to take advantage of the south light. It is twelve stories high (about 160 feet high), made of concrete and steel with a granite facing. Most of the space to the east and south is occupied by an atrium while the building's mass is located along the north and west sides.
The building with its magnificent atrium filled with botanical exotica was the inspiration for all the dramatic full height atriums found in Hyatt hotels in the United States. Ada Louise Huxtable, a former architecture critic at the New York Times described it as "probably one of the most romantic environments ever devised by corporate man". The building completed in 1968 has been listed for preservation.
"The Ford Foundation building is a radical departure from the usual kind of New York office tower. Roche, who was the principal designer of this building, aimed at producing an environment for the prestigious Ford Foundation in which the individual worker or visitor could identify 'with the aims and intentions of the group.' The result is, as far as I know, unique in modern building: within the confines of a twelve-storey block, a vertical conservatory shaft rises to full height and windows open on to this planted space from all floors. The two uppermost floors contain the executive offices and dining areas which, instead of being planned on an L shape, close the square of the building."
—Dennis Sharp. Twentieth Century Architecture: a Visual History. p286.
"This building creates an appropriate environment for its occupants, a space that allows members of the Foundation staff to be aware of each other—to share their common aims and purposes, and that assists them in fostering a sense of working family.
"The building is as low as possible and observes the lines and planes created by other buildings on the surrounding streets. The structure is a composite one, using concrete for bearing members and steel for spanning. The scale is large on 42nd Street where it terminates the thrust of that street, and is modest on 43rd Street where the street is more residential in character."
—from Yukio Futagawa, ed. Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Associates, 1962-1975. p57.
