I don't believe architecture has to speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind

I take the museum space also as sacred in a sense.

Since I am a Japanese man who's been building through the experience of Japanese architecture, my actual designs come from Japanese architectural concepts, although they're based on Western methods and materials.

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

Japanese traditional architecture is created based on these conditions. This is the reason you have a very high degree of connection between the outside and inside in architecture.

I am interested in things happening around me, and I need to understand what's going on in other artistic sectors like music and literature.

When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.