Architect

In a progressively privatised city, the defence of public space, the production of new public space, and saving what is public really for the public is very important.

In the 1970s, New York was known as a place of great artistic production. Slowly, my city went from a place of production to a place of consumption.

I hate digital calendars, so I use pen and paper or the palm of my hand for my daily schedule. I get much more satisfaction out of physically crossing things out than deleting.

As a student, I hadn't really been interested in architecture at all, but when I started teaching, it grew into me - rather than me growing into it.

Aside from keeping the rain out and producing some usable space, architecture is nothing but a special-effects machine that delights and disturbs the senses.

Many tools are indispensable for my work, from a utility knife to parametric-modeling software, like Digital Project. But it's important not to confuse the tool for the content, as some designers under 30 do.

When I was studying architecture in the 1970s, it was intellectually bankrupt.

We're always taught that we're building for permanence, but why? I like the idea of a prosthetic architecture! When a section is removed, the building readjusts its weight distribution, like a living body.

Architects and food at a construction site equals indigestion. We're always looking for details that haven't been executed correctly.

I have a real survivor's instinct.

I think idiosyncrasy is great.

I can't imagine having a spouse who is not an architect. It's hard to put myself in the shoes of other couples where each partner brings totally different things from their day to the table.

I can't live without my 15-inch MacBook Pro. I drag it everywhere I go. I love having a big screen with me at all times, especially in transit.

In art school, it was about feeling. In architecture school, it was about ideas.

Architecture, by definition, is always standing still.

We like to take impossible things and actually make them happen.

I believe in planning logics where you have neighbourhoods, and you don't just do one building at a time.

The public brings our buildings to life, and we try to choreograph a lot of things, but our most successful work functions in unanticipated ways. Like the Blur Building. When little kids got in there, they cried or laughed or ran around. And no matter how much theory we put on top of it, it didn't matter: it worked.

We conventionally divide space into private and public realms, and we know these legal distinctions very well because we've become experts at protecting our private property and private space. But we're less attuned to the nuances of the public.

Each project is torturous and joyful, and it's always an inspiration.