In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction.

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.

I think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don't work on it directly. Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. This is what you learn from studying the old townscapes of the Swiss farmers.

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

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

What I try to do is the art of building, and the art of building is the art of construction; it is not only about forms and shapes and images.