Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs.

If you do not breathe through writing if you do not cry out in writing or sing in writing then don't write because our culture has no use for it.

I acquired an admiration for Japanese culture art and architecture and learned of the existence of the game of GO which I still play.

Information and inspiration are everywhere... history art architecture everything an illustrator needs. Europe is after all the land that has generated most of the enduring myths and legends of Western culture.

The intellectual force of the West is still dominant but other cultures are getting stronger. I expect that we will develop a new way of thinking in architecture and urban planning and that less will be based on our models.

Spiritual space is lost in gaining convenience. I saw the need to create a mixture of Japanese spiritual culture and modern western architecture.

Any architectural project we do takes at least four or five years so increasingly there is a discrepancy between the acceleration of culture and the continuing slowness of architecture.

When you look at Japanese traditional architecture you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious close contact with nature - this very unique to Japan.

Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.

The greatest advances of civilization whether in architecture or painting in science and literature in industry or agriculture have never come from centralized government.