There was a time when I experienced architecture without thinking about it.

Architecture to me is whole. I cannot say I only care about this 25% and the other 75% I let go... it's just I want to work the way I want to work. In my shop, you can order certain things and other things you cannot. They are not available.

The first 10 years of my professional life had only to do with running away from my father. He was a wonderful cabinet-maker, and me being the eldest son, I had to take over his shop, his profession and so on and so on. I tried to escape by going to art school and then going on to industrial design and then interior design.

I've said goodbye to the overworked notion that architecture has to save the world.

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.

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.

Small museums are great. Big museums are a drag.