Ford Foundation – Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates
Completed in 1967, the Ford Foundation Building in New York City, designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, broke from the typical corporate high-rise model. Instead, it offers a low, twelve-story structure wrapped around an enclosed garden atrium—a radical move that fosters openness, daylight, and a sense of shared purpose among staff.
The building’s U-shaped plan maximizes exposure to park and river views, while the internal garden, protected from New York’s winter climate, serves as both a social condenser and a symbol of the foundation’s philanthropic mission.
Materially and structurally, the building expresses clarity and honesty: poured concrete piers act as vertical supports, while weathering steel spans between them—drawing inspiration from bridge and highway engineering. Its dark granite façade responds to the domestic scale of 43rd Street, while on 42nd Street, the building adopts a more monumental scale, acting as a civic gateway.
