Sustainability has become an ornament.

Lagos was a city that had been turned against itself. There was a bridge that became the perfect trap for crimes, which began with nails being scattered to cause flat tyres. If the driver stopped, the car would be dismantled in 20 minutes and the parts thrown overboard [to people waiting below]. The system had turned into a kind of destructive device that could be used against people. That was the narrative.

The architecture per se isn't at fault. The more important factor, in my view, is the political neglect of these areas, which have essentially been cut off from other neighborhoods.

As more and more architecture is finally unmasked as the mere organization of flow - shopping centers, airports - it is evident that circulation is what makes or breaks public architecture.

That has been another interesting discovery: that basically a city [Lagos] could recover from a really deep, deep, deep pit.

One cannot completely avoid this landmark character with large buildings such as these. But the city itself is also gigantic.

Criticism per se does not worry me. I've always solicited it as part of the design process.