I don't know how to overcome this perception that I'm extravagant.

Most of our cities built since the war are bland. They're modernist, they're cold, and now architects want to go back to that.

You have to be optimistic. I still have doubts and conflicts, but the bottom line is, I believe in the future.

In Tokyo, London or Los Angeles people go into McDonald's and the restaurants are identical and people are comfortable. It's unthreatening.

The back of Saint Peter's is one of the finest pieces of architecture I've ever seen.

In the Renaissance there wasn't a distinction. Bernini was an artist and he made architecture, and Michelangelo also did some great architecture.

Cardboard is another material that's ubiquitous and everybody hates, yet when I made furniture with it everybody loved it.