I always thought I was powerful, since I was a kid.

The conservative values that are emerging, it may not effect architecture immediately but it will effect society and that's what worries me.

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.

When I taught, all my best students were women.

You have to be very focused and work very hard, but it is not about working hard without knowing what your aim is!

Architecture is particularly difficult for women; there's no reason for it to be. I don't want to blame men or society, but I think it was for a long time, the clients were men, the building industry is all male.

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.