A scholarship fund honoring the legacy of the late Kevin Roche has been established by the Connecticut Architecture Foundation (CAF) in coordination with the local firm Svigals + Partners and in time for what would have been the Pritzker winner’s 100th birthday this year. Roche’s children, who were behind the decision to repurpose their father’s heirlooms, said the establishment’s purpose was to “[make] the Pritzker work for the betterment of architecture in a new way, refocusing its lens from the most heralded to the least.”

The fund will begin rewarding money to students with at least two years of completed study in an undergraduate architecture program, or to those holding acceptance letters from accredited graduate programs in the subject, starting next year. 

In a live event hosted in New Haven at Yale School of Architecture by Dean Deborah Berke, recent Pritzker laureates Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Ireland-based Grafton Architects presented a short video tribute, available below, to their fellow countryman alongside Yale’s Senior Architecture Critic Brennan Buck, who provided commentary on the architect’s career and steadfast social mission.

Video tribute by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects to inaugurate the new Roche Scholarship. Video via Roche Modern on YouTube.

The new fund's $150,000 seed money was made possible using proceeds from Roche’s 1982 Pritzker Prize and the sale of a Henry Moore sculpture taken from his private collection and is named after both himself and his surviving widow, Jane.

“This year, Kevin Roche would have been 100 years old,” CAF President Stephanie Degen-Monroe said at the ceremony. “Some aspects of architectural practice do not change or shouldn’t. Kevin is remembered by office staff as wanting to give quality of life to people at work. There are multiple examples, all focusing on light and the natural world as the founding elements of the architecture. I can’t think of a better way to honor his legacy of exceptional architecture and the advancement of promising future architects than by supporting the scholarship dedicated to his ideals.”

More information about CAF scholarships can be found here. Additional donations can be made by following this link to the Roche scholarship fund on the CAF’s PayPal page.