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.

If we can't face death, we'll never overcome it. You have to look it straight in the eye. Then you can turn around and walk back out into the light.

I think I've always had an activist stance, yet at the same time, the other side of me - and this is where some people just don't get it, or they'd prefer it if the work was a lot uglier, a lot louder - I have this personality where I just want to put something out that's a fact and then let you interpret it. It's almost as if you might barely notice it, you might walk right by it, but you have to pay attention.

My grandfather, on my father's side, helped to draft one of the first constitutions of China. He was a fairly well-known scholar.

My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions.

I do not think you can find a reason for everything you make.

Warmth isn't what minimalists are thought to have.