I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.

Our lives are given meaning by our actions-accomplishments made while we are "here" that extend beyond our own time.

I though about what death is, what a loss is. A sharp pain that lessens with time, but can never quite heal over. A scar. The idea occurred to me there on the site. Take a knife and cut open the earth, and with time the grass would heal it. As if you cut open the rock and polished it.

I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me.

When I was very little, we would get letters from China, in Chinese, and they' be censored. We were a very insular little family.

Architecture is like a mythical fantastic. It has to be experienced. It can't be described. We can draw it up and we can make models of it, but it can only be experienced as a complete whole.

My goal is to strip things down so that you need just the right amount of words or shape to convey what you need to convey. I like editing. I like it very tight.