The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.

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

Manhattan has no choice but the skyward extrusion of the Grid itself; only the Skyscraper offers business the wide-open spaces of a man-made Wild West, a frontier in the sky.

Infrastructure is much more important than architecture.

Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.

Let's put it this way: One can be happy or unhappy in a building. But some buildings make us more depressed than others.

Talk about beauty and you get boring answers, but talk about ugliness and things get interesting.