My Work Is Not About "form Follows

Of Course, I Have Given My Engineers Some Headaches Over The Years, But They Go With Me. I Have Always Wanted My Buildings To Be As Light As Possible, To Touch The Ground Gently, To Swoop And Soar, And To Surprise.

When I Was Very Little My Mother Said I Used To Draw In The Air With My Fingers. I Needed A Pencil. Once I Could Hold One, I Have Drawn Every Day Since.

Here, Then, Is What I Wanted To Tell You Of My Architecture. I Created It With Courage And Idealism, But Also With An Awareness Of The Fact That What Is Important Is Life, Friends And Attempting To Make This Unjust World A Better Place In Which To Live.

Architecture Is My Work, And Ive Spent My Whole Life At A Drawing Board, But Life Is More Important Than Architecture. What Matters Is To Improve Human Beings.

The Architect's Role Is To Fight For A Better World, Where He Can Produce An Architecture That Serves Everyone And Not Just A Group Of Privileged People.