American Architect Quotes

"So at a time in which the media give the public everything it wants and desires, maybe art should adopt a much more aggressive attitude towards the public. I myself am very much inclined to take this position."

"So I am totally aware that when I defend the autonomy of art I'm going counter to my own development. It's more an instinctive reaction, meant to protect the private aspect of the work, the part I am most interested in and which nowadays is at risk in our culture."

"So we can't go backwards, we can only go where the evolutionary trajectory is taking us and attune our ideas about ourselves and our existence to that course."

"The aesthetic of architecture has to be rooted in a broader idea about human activities like walking, relaxing and communicating. Architecture thinks about how these activities can be given added value."

"The huge problem in our society is the enormous ignorance of the ideas that underlie modern art."

"We only exist in terms of how we think we exist. Meaning every cultural development is fabricated and can be fabricated."

"You might say that when you step inside, you're entering a honorific space, but that's something totally different than experiencing it. And in architecture the experience comes first. That has the deepest effect on us."

"Never turn down a job because you think it's too small; you don't know where it can lead."

"And a building must be like a human being. It must have a wholeness about it, something that is very important."

"And exciting buildings are fine periodically."

"And I feel that we in our society should not be held by any such myth; that we should do everything we can to gain a delight and joy in our society with all the available parts of the palette."

"And I like the idea of change. Because I don't see why we should hang a painting on the wall and then just not think of it anymore because it's there like a piece of furniture."

"And I think that the environment is one very strong way to counterbalance the chaotic nature of our life."

"And sometimes I'm criticized. But I think that if those who criticize us will look at the reason why the shape is this, well then, I think that they would not object so strenuously."

"Because, if we understand how a building is to be produced and we find a way that it can be more simply produced, then obviously we are contributing to building better buildings more easily."

"Being the gateway to a large city, St. Louis, I had felt from the very beginning that somehow this building should symbolize this sense of being a gateway."

"But I don't see why we have to take a central hall, for instance, and use in it a sculpture or painting. I think it detracts, somehow."

"But now I know that it is very important that all buildings should be consistent, that this is the quality of the Gothic cathedral, for instance, that we like."

"However, India is a democracy and they deeply believe in democracy and we feel that it would not be good to overwhelm them with propaganda."

"I believe that we must understand the economy of the situation."