The architect Borromini's Quattro Fontane, a little church in Rome, is one of the most beautiful rooms in history.

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.

It's a metaphor for what we're being told: "Just stay in the box, kid, don't muddy the water." Parents say it to their kids. Teachers say it. Schools do. And so people become immune to the sameness.

An architect is given a program, budget, place, and schedule. Sometimes the end product rises to art - or at least people call it that.

Ninety percent of the buildings we live in and around aren't architecture. No, that's not right - 98 percent.

Man, there's another freedom out there, and it comes from somewhere else, and that somewhere else is the place I'm interested in.

In the end, the character of a civilization is encased in its structures.