You have to do every detail on every bloody piece of the building. You have to know how the engineering works. You have to know how the fittings go together. You have to master the mechanical, electrical, acoustical - everything.

Some people may say my curved panels look like sails. Well, I am a sailor, so I guess I probably do use that metaphor in my work - though not consciously.

The best advice I've received is to be yourself. The best artists do that.

For me, every day is a new thing. I approach each project with a new insecurity, almost like the first project I ever did. And I get the sweats. I go in and start working, I'm not sure where I'm going. If I knew where I was going I wouldn't do it.

That's why you go into architecture - at least I did - to do things for people. I think most of us are idealists. You start out that way, anyway.

You've got to like the people you work with.

Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.