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.

If you don't remember history accurately, how can you learn?

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.

Sometimes I think creativity is magic; it's not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you.

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

I'm as much interested in the form-making as well as getting you to think about what we're doing to the world around us.

How we are using up our home, how we are living and polluting the planet is frightening. It was evident when I was a child. It's more evident now.