From my first days studying architecture at the architectural association, I have always been interested in the concept of fragmentation and with ideas of abstraction and explosion, where we were de-constructing ideas of repetitiveness and mass production.

I like music. Country, hip-hop, R&B, sometimes classical.

As a woman you're not accessible to every world.

Architecture is really about well-being. I think that people want to feel good in a space ... On the one hand it's about shelter, but it's also about pleasure.

I miss aspects of being in the Arab world - the language - and there is a tranquility in these cities with great rivers. Whether it's Cairo or Baghdad, you sit there and you think, 'This river has flown here for thousands of years.' There are magical moments in these places.

People say I design architectural icons. If I design a building and it becomes an icon, that's ok.

I've always been interested in combining architecture with a social agenda, and I really think you can invest and be inventive with hospitals and housing.