Architect

I think greed is a critical problem - the gap between the poor and the rich. The gap between the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 percent.

Of course I know very little about architecture, and the older I get the less I know.

Cities are about juxtaposition. In Florence, classical buildings sit against medieval buildings. It's that contrast we like. In Bordeaux, we built law courts right next door to what is effectively a listed historic building, and that makes it exciting.

My mother was very family-oriented. And I do love being with my children.

The Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea provide plenty of opportunities to walk, think and relax.

So I think that, yes, anything that makes it more palatable and easier to understand, such as a Virtual Centre, has to be seen as a primary activity within the educational and information global state.

Architecture is a living thing. If I want to leave something to the future, it has to be able to change - but retain something of the ethos that we built up over 50 years.

You have to modernise; you have to change - you can't just be traditional for the fun of being traditional.

Form follows profit is the aesthetic principle of our times.

The gap between the rich and poor is widening fast.

Architecture is about public space held by buildings.

I remember my mother taking me to see the Picasso show in the 1940s, and I was impressed by the life and vibrancy of it all. It was a bit too avant-garde for most Londoners at the time, but since then, the city has become a centre for modern culture.

I believe very much in a dialogue between buildings - I believe it's always been there. I think buildings have different identities and live very well next to each other. We always have the shock of the new, and that's fine. The renaissance style is totally different from the medieval, and they have a dialogue across time.

I love cities, I spend most of my life talking about cities. And the design of cities does have an effect on your life. You're lucky if you can see trees out of your window and you have a square nearby, or a bar, a cornershop, a surgery. Then you're living well.

Architecture is measured against the past; you build in the future, and you try to imagine the future.

My architecture tends to be legible, light and flexible. You can read it. You look at a building, and you can see how it is constructed. I put the structure outside.

If you had a carbon tax, you'd have less cars and more bicycles, more people getting around on foot and by public transport.

A greater focus on design in all new homes would make the best use of land, create homes and public spaces, and reinforce the structures of urban life.

Watching TV on your own is not very inspiring. But meeting people is where you get new ideas and get things done.

Architects are not clients. We can't build without something to built.