I never like things that don't look nice. It's really that simple.

There's no architect who doesn't want to build a library - and I am no different. With so much scrutiny now attached to reading - because of technology and how we approach it as a social activity - that is a very exciting area in architecture.

I make spaces that are calm rather than confrontational. I seek a certain kind of logic that allows you to move in space and perceive it as beautiful and rational. Clarity is a worthwhile quality.

I remember, as a young architect, people always talked about I. M. Pei's concrete. He had a particular specification no one else knew.

I was brought up to reuse things.

I know I'm old-fashioned, but there's just something about the act of looking at books versus taking in information on a screen, which is so one-dimensional. There's a sense of ownership that you have with books, a physical connection.

One of the things I've always loved about New York is there is so much precedent for ornament on industrial buildings.