Architecture Quotes

Early in my career, I tried to bring an artistic feeling to architecture. That's really the intent and impression of what I think about: context, space, shapes, and landscape.

What if we treat the high-rise like a mountain, or we have gardens in the sky, or waterfalls? I think that's the most challenging thing I want to try in my architecture.

I'm trying to create architecture as landscape. But I'm not copying nature.

A pool at the edge of the ocean is the simplest geometry, yet you feel connected to the sea. In a forest with the mountains in the background, you also feel the connection to nature, yet it's a very complex geometry. I think architecture is about controlling these feelings.

Since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, our office has been discussing how we can make architecture more human and at one with nature. We need to ask ourselves, what legacy do we want to leave behind on humankind's urban culture?

The way we do our architecture is to show that we can come up with our own solutions. We don't just take orders.

I think architecture should be a stage, not something too material - more of an environment, not a product.

When I was young and used to look at Chinese architecture, there was no clear definition between what was landscaping and what was architecture.

Oscar Niemeyer really inspired me. He's from South America, where nature has meaning. And his architecture was not expensive or high tech but artistic and spiritual. I like that.

The architecture scene in China is the most open and free climate compared to many other places. You can find many opportunities.

Architecture is a special kind of career that showcases the accumulations of culture, time, and history.

I attended classes and taught classes, in Food Anthropology at Pace University, with an anthropology professor. You can trace history by the architecture and food of a place. Food is one of those things that transcends and stays in the culture.

I haven't really got a green thumb, but I love gardens and their architecture.

Everything about camera movement, about how film was made, shot architecture, and time management... I was horrible at all that.

I have a thing for clean lines and beautiful form that I attribute to my four years in Tokyo and Kyoto. I also appreciate traditional architecture and a warm palette that I think my Midwest upbringing has something to do with.

I don't separate architecture, design, or culture. What's more important is a language of creativity that carries meaning.

In the United States alone, 450 billion square feet of glass facade is produced every year. What if we could take this chance to use the glass to harness solar energy and allow the architecture to respond to the light and heat of the sun, to create photosynthesis and generate solar energy?

Forms in nature are a byproduct of a reciprocal action between a given material and the conditions of the environment. But in architecture, the process is the direct opposite: First you decide on the form, and then you think how to build it in reality.

I object to the hegemony of form in contemporary architecture. We have very advanced technological tools, but ultimately, we create buildings exactly like we used to before: We send the drawings to an engineer and let him struggle with figuring out how to build it.

There's a very mathematical, mechanical side to architecture, and I probably lean more toward that aspect of it, though I'm terrible at numbers. But that side appeals to me more than the decorating aspect.