My earliest memory of architecture, I was perhaps 6 or 7 years old, was of my aunt building a house in mosul in the north of iraq. The architect was a close friend of my father's and he used to come to our house with the drawings and models. I remember seeing the model in our living room and I think it triggered something, as I was completely intrigued by it.

The conservative values that are emerging, it may not effect architecture immediately but it will effect society and that's what worries me.

I don't use the computer. I do sketches, very quickly, often more than 100 on the same formal research.

Yes, I'm a feminist, because I see all women as smart, gifted and tough.

People don't talk to you properly. It's the way they talk to you; they dismiss you. I think it's a combination of me being a woman and a foreigner.

Would they call me a diva if I were a guy?

In terms of form, all the projects interest me equally, although there are obviously large differences according to the scale and process of each project.