Half of architecture students are women, and you see respected, established female architects all the time.

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.

Know what it is that you are trying to find out.

People often ask me if I consider myself to be an architect, fashion designer, or artist. I'm an architect. The paintings I've done are very important to me, but they were part of a process of thinking and developing.

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

You really have to have a goal. The goal posts might shift, but you should have a goal. Know what it is you want to find out.

You have to really believe not only in yourself; you have to believe that the world is actually worth your sacrifices.