I am quite sensitive to politics, because you know, as an Arab, an Iraqi, all your life, you are very conscious of it.

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.

People say I design architectural icons. If I design a building and it becomes an icon, that's ok.

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 think about architecture all the time. That's the problem. But I've always been like that. I dream it sometimes.

There are so many great galleries and museums in London, but they can be very crowded during the day.

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