My objective is to design a space that nobody else can come up with while using the material that anyone can use.

If I can create some space that people haven't experienced before and if it stays with them or gives them a dream for the future, that's the kind of structure I seek to create.

I like ruins because what remains is not the total design, but the clarity of thought, the naked structure, the spirit of the thing.

Working in Tokyo has convinced me that, contrary to what people think, it is actually one of the world's most beautiful cities.

I think of the past and the future as well as the present to determine where I am, and I move on while thinking of these things.

No matter how advanced society becomes, institutionally or technologically, a house in which nature can be sensed represents for me the ideal environment in which to live. From a functional viewpoint, the courtyard of the Rowhouse in Sumiyoshi forces the inhabitant to endure the occasional hardships. At the same time, however, the open courtyard is capable of becoming the house's vital organ, introducing the everyday life and assimilating precious stimuli such as changes in nature.

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