People say, "This is the world the way it is, and don't bother me." Then when somebody does something different, real architecture, the push-back is amazing. People resist it. At first it's new and scary.

It should begin much earlier with arts education in the American school system, which is sadly deficient.

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

I have always thought that L.A. is a motor city that developed linear downtowns.

There are places that are so designed they're unlivable.

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.

It's not elitist to acknowledge that everyone has a unique signature and everyone is different.