I see the Beijing National Stadium as an architectural project. I accepted Herzog and De Meuron's invitation to collaborate on the design and our proposal won the competition. From beginning to end I stayed with the project. I am committed to fostering relationships between a city and its 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.

The details are the very source of expression in architecture. But we are caught in a vice between art and the bottom line.

In any architecture there is an equity between the pragmatic function and the symbolic function.

The dialogue between client and architect is about as intimate as any conversation you can have because when you're talking about building a house you're talking about dreams.

Proportions are what makes the old Greek temples classic in their beauty. They are like huge blocks from which the air has been literally hewn out between the columns.

Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward and you will have the truth about him.

The anger that appears to be building up between the sexes becomes more virulent with every day that passes. And far from women taking the blame... the fact is that men are invariably portrayed as the bad guys. Being a good man is like being a good Nazi.

I think there is a big difference between expressing the pain and anger that many African Americans and other people of color may feel versus language that I think now crosses the line and goes into hate.

We are losing sight of civility in government and politics. Debate and dialogue is taking a back seat to the politics of destruction and anger and control. Dogma has replaced thoughtful discussion between people of differing views.