One Of My Greatest Influences

If You're Serious About Being An Architect, You've Got To Learn How To Take Responsibility.

My Father Always Told Me That I Was Going To Be A Failure - I Think He Was More Talking About Himself, But I Didn't Know It At The Time.

People Live And Work In Uninspiring Environments, But Look Inside Those Rooms. Look At The Painted Walls And The Decorations. People Rebel Even In The Most Controlled Office Environment In Which They're Not Allowed To Do Anything. You See The Little Bulletin Board In Front Of A Person's Desk With Their Photos, Clippings, Cartoons And Whatever Else.

I Do My Best To Choose Carefully. If I Don’t Feel That Collaboration Is Going To Happen, I Say No. Think About It. These Projects Can Involve A Five-to-seven-year Partnership. If You Don’t Feel Comfortable With Someone, You Can’t Get Rid Of Them. I Just Walked Away From A Job For That Reason. Every One Of These Projects Is An Emotional Investment, Like Falling In Love. You’ve Got To Believe In It And You’ve Got To Like The People You Work With.

I Used To Read More When I Was A Kid Than I Do Now. It Was All Sort Of Fuel For The Fire To Teach You How To Think And How To Make Things And It Informed The Architecture That I Was Doing. It's Better Coming In With That History And That Kind Of Knowledge And Depth Of Understanding Of Humanity That Is Very Important For Building Buildings - For Understanding People And How They Should Live And How You Could Make Your Lives Better And Stuff Like That.