For me [ Giovanni Lorenzo ] Bernini, [Francesco ] Borromini, and [Donato] Bramante have been as significant as Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Louis Kahn. I still marvel at their works, which have a quality and a timelessness that I seek to have in our projects.

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

You can't escape the influence of architectural history.

Ultimately it's the public nature of those projects that I most enjoy. Museums are more than just places to view art, they're also civic and social centers.

We look at each one [project] and consider the context - what it is and what it can be - beyond the strictly functional concerns.

We learn a lot, and each museum ends up having its own distinctive character and personality.

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