Rome has not seen a modern building in more than half a century. It is a city frozen in time.

The work needs to have a certain longevity. It lasts longer than we do.

We are all affected by Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Mies van der Rohe. But no less than Bramante, Borromini, and Bernini. Architecture is a tradition, a long continuum. Whether we break with tradition or enhance it, we are still connected to that past. We evolve.

We think about project's public nature and how that can be enhanced, how the spaces we create can enliven the experience of being there.

When I think of a place of worship, I think of a place where one can sit and be reminded of all the things that are important outside our individual lives. To express spirituality, the architect has to think of the original material of architecture, space and light.

An important work of architecture will create polemics.

If I had my druthers, I would do a lot more.