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

In an ideal world, pressure should come from below and from the top.

My buildings are all on budget.

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.

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

I found the material that people hated the most and used the most. So, I was going and try and see if I could play with it sculpturally.

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