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.

Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don't want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist.

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 like to think of my work as creating a private conversation with each person, no matter how public each work is and no matter how many people are present

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

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