The word 'celebrity' and the word 'architect' are basically incompatible.

Beauty isn't what I'm primarily interested in [in architecture]. I think appropriateness is more important.

Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.

The good is not a category that interests me.

The areas of consensus shift unbelievably fast; the bubbles of certainty are constantly exploding.

Our society can no longer tolerate ugliness. You see that in cars, sofas and women. [But] ugliness also has a right to exist.

There is no plateau of resting or stabilising. Once you are interested in how things evolve, you have a kind of never-ending perspective, because it means you are interested in articulating the evolution, and therefore the potential change, the potential redefinition.