I like fashion, whether or not it's overpriced, because it creates a sense of the sublime with relatively few means.

Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.

Not many architects have the luxury to reject significant things.

In the end, there will be little else for us to do but shop.

When we went in the late 1990s, Nigeria was still in a dictatorship. So we didn't go with a mission. It started really with a sort of blankness and open-endedness.

Nigeria was a blank on the map - there weren't even any maps. The US State Department, everyone said don't go there. It was courageous of Harvard University: the notion was that we would match Harvard students with Nigerian students, so that every student would have a guide, creating a guarantee of intimacy with the city.

Architects work in two ways. One is to respond precisely to a client's needs or demands. Another is to look at what the client asks and reinterpret it.