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.

The spirit of adventure to embrace the new and the incredible belief in the power of invention attracted me to the Russian avant-garde.

I don't particularly like showing furniture on pedestals, but for whatever reasons you always have to in museums.

With products the form is almost the finished piece, but with architecture it is not.

Of course I believe imaginative architecture can make a difference to people's lives, but I wish it was possible to divert some of the effort we put into ambitious museums and galleries into the basic architectural building blocks of society.

I am equally proud of all of my architectural projects. It's always rewarding to see an ambitious design become reality.

Some people really live and work within the same doctrine, the same diagram with the same logic.