A builder is like a little god - somebody who does things, doesn't just draw things.

The difference between a builder and an architect is that an architect also cares about desire, about dreams.

When you design a building, you start from a general philosophy, and you come down, and you start from detail and come up. Only the theoretical architect believes that you can make the concept and then sometime, somebody will come to build it.

Great American art needs the idea of uninterrupted spaces, like a loft, which itself is something very American.

I think people should try to teach young children that these qualities - stubbornness and a capacity to listen - might look like they are opposites, but they are not.

In a way I spend my entire life stealing from everything - from the past, from cities I love, from where I grew up - grabbing things, taking not only from architecture but from Italy, art, writing, poetry, music.