I see the Beijing National Stadium as an architectural project. I accepted Herzog and De Meuron's invitation to collaborate on the design, and our proposal won the competition. From beginning to end, I stayed with the project. I am committed to fostering relationships between a city and its architecture.

Artists are the worst [people]. They are selfish, self-centred; they don't care what happens.

If I look at it, I would laugh. I don't know how I became successful.

Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics.

I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.

China has a rich history that has spanned millennia. It consists of the histories of many nations and regions.

The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.