Roche's first design after Eero Saarinen's death was the Oakland Museum, a monumental building to house natural history, technology and art.
Roche gave them a unique concept, a building that is a series of low level concrete structures covering a four block area, on three levels, the terrace of each level forming the roof of the one below — a museum (actually three museums) with a park on its roof. This kind of innovative solution became Roche's trademark, and the Oakland Museum is also a non-building with its use of exterior spaces. Roche himself doesn't believe that architecture is about abstractions or sculpture - "We are public servants, not tempermental artists. Architects have a responsibility to society to produce harmonious buildings that will fit into the cultural background and be enjoyed by people."
After this building, Contemporary Architects that Roche "demonstrates a kind of problem solving for each specific situation that has produced works of distinct individuality and stylistic variety from project to project" and called Roche and Dinkeloo, "The most aesthetically daring and innovative American firm of architects now working in the realm of architecture.
"What the city of Oakland asked for was three new buildings on a four-block site to house the collections of the city's existing museums of art, history and natural science. What it got was a complex of three interrelated museums tucked under terraces and opening onto gardens so that the site became a green oasis in a city starved for parks. The way this happened is an object lesson in the design of civic architecture, and an example of how architects can help clients get what they really need."
—Jeanne M. Davern, ed. Architecture 1970-1980: A Decade of Change. p13.
"The building, which occupies four blocks, is conceived as a walled garden with large welcoming entrances. The galleries are so arranged that the roof of one becomes the terrace of another. A pedestrian street connects the different levels and the other functions. Each area opens directly onto lawns, terraces, trellised passages and broad flights of stairs."
"The entire museum is built of a light colored concrete with a sandblasted finish. The wide walls which surround the planting are just the right height to sit on. The planting has begun to do what it was hoped it would, to grow over the entire building, gradually submerging its form and creating a lush, colorful garden.""
—from Yukio Futagawa, ed. Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Associates, 1962-1975. p24.