My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.

I grew up in a craftsman's home, where things were done with our own hands. I did cabinetmaking for four years and I hated it.

When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history and its sensuous qualities.

Presence is like a gap in the flow of history, where all of [a] sudden it is not past and not future.

When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It's not about paper, it's not about forms. It's about space and material.

Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens I have seen, that I believe I have seen, that I long to see, surrounded by simple walls, columns, arcades or the facades of buildings - sheltered places of great intimacy where I want to stay for a long time.

Small museums are great. Big museums are a drag.