Generally people are afraid. They pretend they aren’t; it’s part of the denial. We’re all part of it. As much as we pretend otherwise, we want what’s comfortable, and we’re afraid of the different. We’re afraid of change. It happened in Los Angeles, too, when the first models of Disney Hall were shown. You should have heard the outcry from the public, critics and press. It was called “broken crockery,” “outlandish” and blah blah blah. Of course now the feeling is different.

I work from the inside out.

Art is about people. I think the discussion about whether architecture is art or not is lamebrain.

We should celebrate variety rather than conformity and allow people to express themselves. That we don't is more of our denial.

If you know where it's going, it's not worth doing.

It's not new that architecture can profoundly affect a place, sometimes transform it.

I promised a lot of people I'd slow down when I turned 80.