For many years, I hated nature. As a student, I refused to put a plant anywhere - a living plant, that is. Dead plants were OK.

I have always appreciated those who dare to experiment with materials and proportions.

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

I will always have two regrets. I don't have a presence in London, and I would have liked to have done more work in the Middle East.

I loved London. In the 1970s... it was very exciting, really wild.

I don't think that everybody in the planet should have a child. I've never had the desire I should have a kid.

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.