Each project, I suffer like I'm starting over again in life. There's a lot of healthy insecurity that fuels this stuff.

That's what you have to find in architecture. You have to find your signature. When you find it, you're the only expert on it. People can say they like it or don't like it. They can argue about it, but it's yours.

Many people put a green button on their collar and feel good, just like a lot of people put an American flag on their lapels and feel patriotic. It's not enough.I'm not dismissing it.

There is a backlash against me and everyone who has done buildings that have movement and feeling.

You've got to bumble forward into the unknown.

There is stuff I would have liked to have done. But there are no sour grapes.

My father was an urchin that lived in Hell's Kitchen. He was part of a family of nine. I mean, there were times that were better and worse, but mostly, by the time we got to L.A., they'd lost whatever they had. And it was a sad time. And both he and I became truck drivers for different companies.