Generally in our world, whether in architecture or almost anywhere else, we devalue the artist, and schools at whatever level shut people down.

When I was a child I could do math and art, so I had left- and right-brain capabilities. But I've seen my children, who are more right-brained, struggling. My son was told he wouldn't make it to college, but he dogged it through and ended up being accepted by 10 major art schools after the high school advisor said, "Please don't apply. You're going to be disappointed." That kid's an artist now.

If I knew where I was going, I wouldn't do it. When I can predict or plan it, I don't do it.

Childhood play is nothing more than an expression of our individuality and preparation for human interaction. Everybody’s an artist. Unfortunately we don’t treat them as such.

Anybody I talk to agrees that maybe 2 percent of the building environment since the war, we could call architecture.

Those who say only artists and architects can create are the ones who are elitist.

One of my unsung heroes is Erich Mendelsohn. I met him when I was a student and he was a cranky old man and very unpleasant. But if you go to his Einstein Tower in Potsdam, Germany you see an enormous intellect at work with a language that was personal and new. It has a sense of urban design and of theater and procession I hadn't seen before.