I'm often called an old-fashioned modernist. But the modernists had the absurd idea that architecture could heal the world. That's impossible. And today nobody expects architects to have these grand visions any more.

I've learned that in order to achieve what I wanted, it made more sense to negotiate than to defend the autonomy of my work by pounding my fist on the table.

The aesthetic of architecture has to be rooted in a broader idea about human activities like walking, relaxing and communicating. Architecture thinks about how these activities can be given added value.

I've been such an outsider my whole life.

Scientific reality is the modern human condition, and you can see that in the symbolic nature of my work.

Our idea of nature is increasingly being determined by scientific developments. And they have become decisive for our image of reality.

Art in progress. MAK has occupied a unique and valuable space as international host for discourse between the arts and architecture.