If I'm in london it can be different than if I'm somewhere else.

A brilliant design will always benefit from the input of others.

As a woman, I'm expected to want everything to be nice and to be nice myself. A very English thing. I don't design nice buildings - I don't like them. I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthy quality.

When I was growing up in Iraq, there was an unbroken belief in progress and a great sense of optimism. It was a moment of nation building.

I have been interested in fashion since I was a kid. Then I lived in London, where it was more about costume and a personal statement of who you are than about fashion.

Architecture is how the person places herself in the space. Fashion is about how you place the object on the person.

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.