I begin by imagining an artwork verbally. I try to describe in writing what the project is, what it is trying to do. I need to understand the artwork without giving it a specific materiality or solid form.

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

Sometimes you have to stop thinking. Sometimes you shut down completely. I think that's true in any creative field.

You couldn't put me in a social group setting. I'm probably a terrible anarchist deep down.

I loved school. I studied like crazy. I was a Class A nerd.

I probably spent the first 20 years of my life wanting to be as American as possible. Through my 20s, and into my 30s, I began to become aware of how so much of my art and architecture has a decidedly Eastern character.

I was probably the first kid in my high school to go to Yale. I applied almost as a lark. Then, when I got there, I was the dumbest person in your class.