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I Used To Read More When I Was A Kid Than I Do Now. It Was All Sort Of Fuel For The Fire To Teach You How To Think And How To Make Things And It Informed The Architecture That I Was Doing. It's Better Coming In With That History And That Kind Of Knowledge And Depth Of Understanding Of Humanity That Is Very Important For Building Buildings - For Understanding People And How They Should Live And How You Could Make Your Lives Better And Stuff Like That.
-Frank Gehry
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I Used To Read

Frank Gehry
I Used To Read More When I Was A Kid Than I Do Now. It Was All Sort Of Fuel For The Fire To Teach You How To Think And How To Make Things And It Informed The Architecture That I Was Doing. It's Better Coming In With That History And That Kind Of Knowledge And Depth Of Understanding Of Humanity That Is Very Important For Building Buildings - For Understanding People And How They Should Live And How You Could Make Your Lives Better And Stuff Like That.
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It's A Metaphor For What We're Being Told: "just Stay In The Box, Kid, Don't Muddy The Water." Parents Say It To Their Kids. Teachers Say It. Schools Do. And So People Become Immune To The Sameness.
Teacher
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We Should Celebrate Variety Rather Than Conformity And Allow People To Express Themselves. That We Don't Is More Of Our Denial.
People
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Architecture Has Always Been A Very Idealistic Profession. It's About Making The World A Better Place And It Works Over The Generations Because People Go On Vacation And They Look For It.
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I Do My Best To Choose Carefully. If I Don’t Feel That Collaboration Is Going To Happen, I Say No. Think About It. These Projects Can Involve A Five-to-seven-year Partnership. If You Don’t Feel Comfortable With Someone, You Can’t Get Rid Of Them. I Just Walked Away From A Job For That Reason. Every One Of These Projects Is An Emotional Investment, Like Falling In Love. You’ve Got To Believe In It And You’ve Got To Like The People You Work With.
Falling In Love
Believe
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As Much As We Pretend Otherwise, We Want What's Comfortable, And We're Afraid Of The Different. We're Afraid Of Change.
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Computers Allow Architects To Remain Parental Instead Of Being Marginalized By The Contractors And Managers.
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You Can Look Anywhere And Find Inspiration.
Inspiration
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Not Every Person Has The Same Kinds Of Talents, So You Discover What Yours Are And Work With Them.
Talent
Kind
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That's What You Have To Find In Architecture. You Have To Find Your Signature. When You Find It, You're The Only Expert On It. People Can Say They Like It Or Don't Like It. They Can Argue About It, But It's Yours.
People
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There's A Drive In Us To Express Ourselves In Some Way Or Form. We Pick Up Whatever Material Is Available. It's Primitive. Kids See Sand On The Beach, Build Something And Show Their Parents: "look What I Did, Mama." It's Necessary To Us.
Beach
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Picasso Could Use Everyone's Paintings And Transform Them Into His Own. He Was Using Ideas From All Of His Contemporaries.
Ideas
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People Live And Work In Uninspiring Environments, But Look Inside Those Rooms. Look At The Painted Walls And The Decorations. People Rebel Even In The Most Controlled Office Environment In Which They're Not Allowed To Do Anything. You See The Little Bulletin Board In Front Of A Person's Desk With Their Photos, Clippings, Cartoons And Whatever Else.
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Office
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You Have To Build Up A Credibility Before The Support Comes To You.
Money
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Your Best Work Is Your Expression Of Yourself. Now, You May Not Be The Greatest At It, But When You Do It, You're The Only Expert.
Expression
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Liquid Architecture. It's Like Jazz - You Improvise, You Work Together, You Play Off Each Other, You Make Something, They Make Something. And I Think It's A Way Of - For Me, It's A Way Of Trying To Understand The City, And What Might Happen In The City.
Thinking
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I Hate The Word Starchitect. Stuff Like That Comes From Mean-spirited, Untalented Journalists. It's Demeaning.
Hate
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Creativity Is About Play And A Kind Of Willingness To Go With Your Intuition. It's Crucial To An Artist. If You Know Where You Are Going And What You Are Going To Do, Why Do It? I Think I Learned That From The Artists, From My Grandmother, From All The Creative People I've Spent Time With Over The Years.
Fun
Creativity
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The Culture Of France Is Unique Because It's A Culture That Has A High Priority On The Arts, More Than Any Other Place In The World In Our Time Since Greece. So As A Practicing Artist, If You Will, This Is Home Ground. They Love Us, So Music, Literature, Art Continues To Be The Center.
Art
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I'm Preprogrammed Emotionally And Intellectually Not To Go Down Blind Alleys. I Don't Waste The Time. I Automatically Edit Out Whatever's Impractical.
Waste
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Democracy Is A Problem And We Don't Want To Get Rid Of It.
Democracy
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Some People May Say My Curved Panels Look Like Sails. Well, I Am A Sailor, So I Guess I Probably Do Use That Metaphor In My Work - Though Not Consciously.
People
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Architecture Is A Small Piece Of This Human Equation, But For Those Of Us Who Practice It, We Believe In Its Potential To Make A Difference, To Enlighten And To Enrich The Human Experience, To Penetrate The Barriers Of Misunderstandin G And Provide A Beautiful Context For Life's Drama.
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In An Ideal World, Pressure Should Come From Below And From The Top.
World
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When You Agree To Collaborate, You Agree To Jump Off A Cliff Holding Hands With Everyone, Hoping The Resourcefulness Of Each Will Insure That You All Land On Your Feet.
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Time Is Just A Blur For Me. I Don't Know What - I Don't Even Know Where I Am Sometimes.
Sometimes
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I Make A Model Of The Site. There Are Some Obvious Things: Where The Entrance Should Be, Where The Cars Have To Go In. You Start To Get The Scale Of It. You Understand The Client's Needs, And What The Client Is Hoping For And Yearning For.
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That's Where You Have To Look For Your Inspiration. Don't Separate The Rest Of Your Life - Who You Are, What You Love - From Your Work.
Inspiration
Looks
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I Love Working. I Don't Know What The Word Vacation Means.
Mean
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What I Have Learned About Museum Buildings Is That Buildings Have To Have Iconic Presentations. The Position Of The Art Museum Vis-a-vis Other Civic Buildings Needs To Be Hierarchal In The Community. It Has To Be Equal To The Library And The Courthouse.
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It's Not New That Architecture Can Profoundly Affect A Place, Sometimes Transform It. Architecture And Any Art Can Transform A Person, Even Save Someone. It Can For Children - For Anyone. It Still Does For Me.
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Cardboard Is Another Material That's Ubiquitous And Everybody Hates, Yet When I Made Furniture With It Everybody Loved It.
Hate
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The Safety Requirements, Which Are Necessary, Spread Everything Out And Push People Farther And Farther Away From The Stage And From Each Other.
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In The Renaissance There Wasn't A Distinction. Bernini Was An Artist And He Made Architecture, And Michelangelo Also Did Some Great Architecture.
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I'm Going To Design The Container And Interior Spaces. You Bring Your Own Stuff To It And Make It Your Own.
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There Is A Backlash Against Me And Everyone Who Has Done Buildings That Have Movement And Feeling.
Feelings
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I Think People Care. If Not, Why Do So Many People Spend Money Going On Vacations To See Architecture? They Go To The Parthenon, To Chartres, To The Sydney Opera House. They Go To Bilbao... Something Compels Them, And Yet We Live Surrounded By Everything But Great Architecture.
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Ninety Percent Of The Buildings We Live In And Around Aren't Architecture. No, That's Not Right - 98 Percent.
Architecture
Building
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Ultimately You Can't Repress Individuality, Even Though You Can Try.
Individuality
Trying
Just Because You Are An Architect And Make Decent Buildings Does Not Mean That You Can Suddenly Become A Set Designer For One Of The Best Avant-garde Dancers In The World.
Mean
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Doe
Erich Mendelsohn's Drawings Are Expressive And Beautiful. If He'd Had The Computers We Have Now, Everything I've Done He Would Have Done Before Me. I Would Have Had To Figure Out Something Else.
Beautiful
Drawing
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My Father Probably - He Had Flashes Of Creativity - He Used To Do Store Windows For Fruit Stores That He Worked In And Stuff.
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People Are Searching For Something They Don't Have In Their Lives. There's An Unfulfilled Need.
People
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When People Condemn Me For Designing Iconic Buildings In Cities And Not Having An Idea What A City Is, They Haven't Done Their Homework. I Started In Urban Design And City Planning. It's Just That When I Got Out Of School There Wasn't Much Of A Market For That. There Still Isn't.
School
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You Have To Do Every Detail On Every Bloody Piece Of The Building. You Have To Know How The Engineering Works. You Have To Know How The Fittings Go Together. You Have To Master The Mechanical, Electrical, Acoustical - Everything.
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On Certain Projects, On Big Public Projects, People Definitely Are Interested In Making Them Greener, But On Smaller Projects With Tight Budgets It Can Be Harder.
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I Found Myself Starting Architecture With A Deep Social, Jewish, Liberal Conscience, And The Belief That Architecture Is For The People. It Was A Do-gooder Base; I Was Born And Raised That Way. I Was For Blacks, Whites, Italians, Poles, Whatever.
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I Used To Sketch - That's The Way I Thought Out Loud. Then They Made A Book Of My Sketches, And I Got Self-conscious, So Now I Don't Do It Much.
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I Have Always Thought That L.a. Is A Motor City That Developed Linear Downtowns.
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I Am Obsessed With Architecture. It Is True, I Am Restless, Trying To Find Myself As An Architect, And How Best To Contribute In This World Filled With Contradiction, Disparity, And Inequality, Even Passion And Opportunity.
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I Think The Biggest Problem With 'industrial' Architecture Is That It's Lost Its Sense Of Humanity. Minimalist Stuff Drains All The Humanity Out Of It. That Idea Works Great For The Money Thing, But It Doesn't Work Great For The Feeling Thing.
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That's Why You Go Into Architecture - At Least I Did - To Do Things For People. I Think Most Of Us Are Idealists. You Start Out That Way, Anyway.
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Man, There's Another Freedom Out There, And It Comes From Somewhere Else, And That Somewhere Else Is The Place I'm Interested In.
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Architecture Should Speak Of Its Time And Place, But Yearn For Timelessness.
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I'm Inspired By A Lot Of Stuff. I Always Was Interested In Sculpture And Painting And Music And Literature And All Those Things. There's No One Thing.
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In Tokyo, London Or Los Angeles People Go Into Mcdonald's And The Restaurants Are Identical And People Are Comfortable. It's Unthreatening.
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Your Work May Be Great And Not Make Its Way Into The Big Picture... Like Van Gogh... So Who's To Say What's Good And Bad?
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A New Idea Is Obsolete In Seconds, Right? I Just Said It And Now It's Obsolete.
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You Can't Ignore History; You Can't Escape It Even If You Want To. You Might As Well Know Where You Come From, And You Might As Well Know That Everything Has Been Done In Some Shape Or Form.
Done
Shapes
Want
I Know I Draw Without Taking My Pen Off The Page. I Just Keep Going, And That My Drawings I Think Of Them As Scribbles. I Don't Think They Mean Anything To Anybody Except To Me, And Then At The End Of The Day, The End Of The Project, They Wheel Out These Little Drawings And They're Damn Close To What The Finished Building Is And It's The Drawing.
Mean
Thinking
Drawing
I Don't Think All Buildings Have To Be Iconic, But The History Of The World Has Shown Us That Cultures Build Iconic Buildings For Their Major Public Buildings.
Thinking
Culture
World
One Of My Unsung Heroes Is Erich Mendelsohn. I Met Him When I Was A Student And He Was A Cranky Old Man And Very Unpleasant. But If You Go To His Einstein Tower In Potsdam, Germany You See An Enormous Intellect At Work With A Language That Was Personal And New. It Has A Sense Of Urban Design And Of Theater And Procession I Hadn't Seen Before.
Hero
Men
Design
We Deny Our Nature To Build And Create And Then Wonder Why There Is So Much Alienation And Dissatisfaction.
Wonder
Deny
Alienation
We Don't See The Banality, But We Accept Banality. We Accept It As Inevitable, And It's Not.
Accepting
Banality
Inevitable
Chicago's One Of The Rare Places Where Architecture Is More Visible.
Chicago
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Visible
And I Realized, When I'd Come In To The Meetings With These Corrugated Metal And Chain Link Stuff, And People Would Just Look At Me Like I'd Just Landed From Mars. But I Couldn't Do Anything Else. That Was My Response To The People And The Time.
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The Message I Hope To Have Sent Is Just The Example Of Being Yourself.
Being Yourself
Example
Messages
When You Were A Kid, If You Went To The Montreal Forum Or A Hockey Game At Maple Leaf Gardens, Which I Did, There Was A Great Feeling. The New Stadiums Don't Have It. Why Don't They Have It? Building Codes.
Kids
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Garden
The Best Advice I've Received Is To Be Yourself. The Best Artists Do That.
Being Yourself
Artist
Advice
If The General Public Demanded Better, They'd Get Better, Because The Market­place Responds To The Public's Needs And Desires.
Get Better
Desire
Needs
I Used To Read More When I Was A Kid Than I Do Now. It Was All Sort Of Fuel For The Fire To Teach You How To Think And How To Make Things And It Informed The Architecture That I Was Doing. It's Better Coming In With That History And That Kind Of Knowledge And Depth Of Understanding Of Humanity That Is Very Important For Building Buildings - For Understanding People And How They Should Live And How You Could Make Your Lives Better And Stuff Like That.
Kids
Thinking
Fire
I Don't Know How To Overcome This Perception That I'm Extravagant.
Perception
Overcoming
Know How
Anybody I Talk To Agrees That Maybe 2 Percent Of The Building Environment Since The War, We Could Call Architecture.
War
Architecture
Environment
I'm Of Two Minds About Doing Any Interviews These Days. It Seems A Lot Of The World Is Out To Play Gotcha With Me. I Guess They Always Go After People These Days. It's Sport.
Sports
Play
Two
I Think My Best Skill As An Architect Is The Achievement Of Hand-to-eye Coordination. I Am Able To Transfer A Sketch Into A Model Into The Building.
Eye
Thinking
Hands
I Don't Know Why People Hire Architects And Then Tell Them What To Do.
Badass
Bad Ass
People
Childhood Play Is Nothing More Than An Expression Of Our Individuality And Preparation For Human Interaction. Everybody’s An Artist. Unfortunately We Don’t Treat Them As Such.
Artist
Childhood
Preparation
The Present Is Filled With Flotsam And Irony And Chaos And Disorder In All Arenas, Political And Sociological. I Think We Have To Work In The Present Even If It's Awkward, Even If It's Not Necessarily Good, Even If We Don't Understand It Ourselves. You Only Find Out 10, Maybe 20 Years Later What Was Going On.
Thinking
Years
Political
Generally People Are Afraid. They Pretend They Aren’t; It’s Part Of The Denial. We’re All Part Of It. As Much As We Pretend Otherwise, We Want What’s Comfortable, And We’re Afraid Of The Different. We’re Afraid Of Change. It Happened In Los Angeles, Too, When The First Models Of Disney Hall Were Shown. You Should Have Heard The Outcry From The Public, Critics And Press. It Was Called “broken Crockery,” “outlandish” And Blah Blah Blah. Of Course Now The Feeling Is Different.
People
Broken
Feelings
The Whole Can Be Greater Than The Sum Of It's Parts, That We All Have Something To Put In The Pie To Make It Better, And That The Collaborative Interaction Works.
Pie
Interaction
Whole
I Like The Idea Of Collaboration - It Pushes You. It's A Richer Experience.
Ideas
Collaboration
Artists Dismiss Me As An Architect, So I'm Not In Their Box, And Architects Dismiss Me As An Artist, So I'm Not In Their Box.
Artist
Architect
Boxes
Many People Put A Green Button On Their Collar And Feel Good, Just Like A Lot Of People Put An American Flag On Their Lapels And Feel Patriotic. It's Not Enough.
Patriotic
People
Feel Good
People Say, "this Is The World The Way It Is, And Don't Bother Me." Then When Somebody Does Something Different, Real Architecture, The Push-back Is Amazing. People Resist It. At First It's New And Scary.
Real
People
Scary
I Found The Material That People Hated The Most And Used The Most. So, I Was Going And Try And See If I Could Play With It Sculpturally.
Play
People
Trying
Those Who Say Only Artists And Architects Can Create Are The Ones Who Are Elitist.
Artist
Architect
Elitist
Art Is About People. I Think The Discussion About Whether Architecture Is Art Or Not Is Lamebrain.
Art
Thinking
People
Let The Experience Begin!
Experience
I'm A Do-gooder Liberal.
Architecture And Any Art Can Transform A Person, Even Save Someone. It Can For Children - For Anyone. It Still Does For Me.
Art
Children
Doe
Everybody's An Artist. Unfortunately We Don't Treat Them As Such.
Artist
Treats
Generally People Are More Impressed With The Services And The Comfort Issues Than The Design.
Issues
People
Design
Look, Architecture Has A Lot Of Places To Hide Behind, A Lot Of Excuses. "the Client Made Me Do This." "the City Made Me Do This." "oh, The Budget." I Don't Believe That Anymore.
Believe
Cities
Looks
You've Got To Bumble Forward Into The Unknown.
Life
Success
Famous Inspirational
If You're Serious About Being An Architect, You've Got To Learn How To Take Responsibility. It's Not Fluff. You Have To Do Every Detail On Every Bloody Piece Of The Building. You Have To Know How The Engineering Works. You Have To Know How The Fittings Go Together. You Have To Master The Mechanical, Electrical, Acoustical - Everything.
Responsibility
Together
Serious
The Thing Is, I Hate The Celebrity Architect Thing. I Just Do My Work.
Hate
I Hate
Architect
Green Issues Have Been Used As A Marketing Tool. Sometimes These Green Claims Are Completely Meaningless.
Issues
Marketing
Tools
I Work From The Inside Out.
For Me, Every Day Is A New Thing. I Approach Each Project With A New Insecurity, Almost Like The First Project I Ever Did. And I Get The Sweats. I Go In And Start Working, I'm Not Sure Where I'm Going. If I Knew Where I Was Going I Wouldn't Do It.
Motivational
Work
Sweat
I Don't Micromanage The Interiors. People Ask Me To And I Say No. I Don't Want To Control Everything.
People
Want
Ask Me
China Is Building Cities For A 20 To 40 Percent Increase In Population. India Is Quickly Growing. The Carbon Footprints Of That And Other Development Around The World Are Overwhelming.
Cities
Carbon Footprint
India
I Promised A Lot Of People I'd Slow Down When I Turned 80.
People
Slow Down
Bilbao Opened In 1997. It Was Only Ten Years Later That I Was Asked To Do Another Museum. A Lot Of Other People Got Work Because Of Bilbao.
Museums
Years
People
There Are Places That Are So Designed They're Unlivable.
There Are A Great Many Things About Architecture That Are Hidden From The Untrained Eye.
Eye
Architecture
Great Men
I Don't Want To Do Architecture That's Dry And Dull.
Dry
Dull
Want
Ideas Exist In The Marketplace; They Are Thrown Out For Everyone To Use.
Ideas
Use
Thrown
Generally In Our World, Whether In Architecture Or Almost Anywhere Else, We Devalue The Artist, And Schools At Whatever Level Shut People Down.
School
Artist
Our World
We Live And Work In Boxes. People Don't Even Notice That.
People
Boxes
There Is Stuff I Would Have Liked To Have Done. But There Are No Sour Grapes.
Done
Stuff
Sour
The Rap On Me On The Street Is The Opposite - I'm Impractical, I'm More Expensive, It's Too Complicated And I Run Over Budgets, Which Isn't True. None Of That's True And There's Plenty Of Documentation If Anybody Needs It.
Running
Rap
Opposites
I Am Just Relating To The World We Live In. I See Some Order In It, Even Though It Looks Like Mush.
Order
Looks
World
You've Got To Like The People You Work With.
People
In The End, The Character Of A Civilization Is Encased In Its Structures.
Character
Civilization
History
People Ask Me If I'm An Artist Or An Architect. But I Think They're The Same.
Artist
Thinking
People
We Live And Work In Boxes. People Don't Even Notice That. Most Of What's Around Us Is Banal. We Live With It. We Accept It As Inevitable. People Say, "this Is The World The Way It Is, And Don't Bother Me."
People
World
Accepting
When I Was A Child I Could Do Math And Art, So I Had Left- And Right-brain Capabilities. But I've Seen My Children, Who Are More Right-brained, Struggling. My Son Was Told He Wouldn't Make It To College, But He Dogged It Through And Ended Up Being Accepted By 10 Major Art Schools After The High School Advisor Said, "please Don't Apply. You're Going To Be Disappointed." That Kid's An Artist Now.
Art
Children
Struggle
Your Best Work Is Your Expression Of Yourself.
Expression
Best Work
If The Room Is Friendly To A Relationship Between Lecturer And Audience, You Feel Everything - The Tension, The Appreciation. I Think The Audience Feels It Too.
Appreciation
Thinking
Friendly
There Are People Who Design Buildings That Are Not Technically And Financially Good, And There Are Those Who Do. Two Categories - Simple.
Simple
Two
People
If I Knew Where I Was Going, I Wouldn't Do It. When I Can Predict Or Plan It, I Don't Do It.
Plans
Ifs
I Can
Here We Are Surrounded By Material That's Being Manufactured In Unimaginable Quantities Worldwide And Is Used Everywhere. I Don't Like It, No One Likes It, And Yet It's Pervasive. We Don't Even See It.
Likes
Used
Materials
My Buildings Are All On Budget.
Building
Budgets
I Would Like To Make A Building As Intellectually Driven As It Is Sculptural And As Positive As It Would Be Acceptable To Hope.
Would Be
Building
Driven
The Message I Hope To Have Sent Is Just The Example Of Being Yourself. I Tell This To My Students: It's Not About Copying Me Or My Logic Systems. It's About Allowing Yourself To Be Yourself.
Being Yourself
Self Esteem
Copying
I Don't Make Things With My Hands, Although I Studied Woodworking And Made Furniture.
Hands
Woodworking
Furniture
I Refuse To Work Unless I Get Paid, So I Don't Get A Lot Of Work Sometimes.
Sometimes
Refuse
Paid
The Back Of Saint Peter's Is One Of The Finest Pieces Of Architecture I've Ever Seen.
Saint
Pieces
Architecture
Many People Put A Green Button On Their Collar And Feel Good, Just Like A Lot Of People Put An American Flag On Their Lapels And Feel Patriotic. It's Not Enough.i'm Not Dismissing It.
Patriotic
People
Feel Good
Each Project, I Suffer Like I'm Starting Over Again In Life. There's A Lot Of Healthy Insecurity That Fuels This Stuff.
Starting Over
Healthy
Insecurity
We Have Always Created - Music, Literature, Art, Dance. The Art Around Us - Or Lack Of It - May Be A Measure Of How We're Doing As Individuals And As A Civilization, So Maybe We Should Be Worried.
Art
Civilization
Literature
The Architect Borromini's Quattro Fontane, A Little Church In Rome, Is One Of The Most Beautiful Rooms In History.
Beautiful
Rome
Church
When I Was A Kid, My Father Didn't Really Have Much Hope For Me. He Thought I Was A Dreamer; He Didn't Think I Would Amount To Anything. My Mother Also.
Mother
Father
Kids
Childhood Play Is Nothing More Than An Expression Of Our Individuality And Preparation For Human Interaction.
Play
Expression
Childhood
Everything - Design And Technology And Materials - Has Changed Since The World Trade Center Was Built. A Lot Of It Has To Do With Computers, Which Allow Us To Be Far More Efficient As Well As Structurally Sound.
Technology
Design
Sound
You Have To Be Optimistic. I Still Have Doubts And Conflicts, But The Bottom Line Is, I Believe In The Future.
Believe
Optimistic
Doubt
I Can't Just Decide Myself What's Being Built. Someone Decides What They Want, Then I Work For Them.
Want
Built
I Can
If You Know Where It's Going, It's Not Worth Doing.
Knows
Ifs
We're Physiologically Wired Differently.
In The Art World Robert Rauschenberg Had Been Combining Common Materials That People Thought Was Art And Beautiful, And It Was. If He Could Do That, I Could Emulate Him.
Beautiful
Art
People
It's Not Elitist To Acknowledge That Everyone Has A Unique Signature And Everyone Is Different.
Unique
Signatures
Different
The Game Is If The Orchestra Can Hear Each Other, They Play Better. If They Play Better And There's A Tangible Feeling Between The Orchestra And The Audience, If They Feel Each Other, The Audience Responds And The Orchestra Feels It.
Games
Play
Feelings
It's Not New That Architecture Can Profoundly Affect A Place, Sometimes Transform It.
Architecture
Sometimes
Some Cultures Tried To Stop People From Expressing Themselves. In Mao's China, For Example, The Communists Tried To Stop Individual Expression. For Them The Payoff Was A Society Of Equality. The Problem Of Course Is That It Didn't Work.
Expression
People
Culture
I Don't Know Whose Box I'm In, And I Don't Really Care.
Care
Boxes
Knows
I Think You've Got To Accept That Certain Things Are In Process That You Can't Change, That You Can't Overwhelm. The Chaos Of Our Cities, The Randomness Of Our Lives, The Unpredictability Of Where You're Going To Be In Ten Years From Now - All Of Those Things Are Weighing On Us, And Yet There Is A Certain Glimmer Of Control. If You Act A Certain Way, And Talk A Certain Way, You're Going To Draw Certain Forces To You.
Thinking
Cities
Years
I Attended A Lecture By A Gray-haired Old Man From Finland, Who Later I Discovered Was The Architect Alvar Aalto. I Was Very Moved. I Wasn't Interested In Architecture, But It Was A Moving Thing I've Never Forgotten.
Moving
Men
Lectures
I Never Said I Was Opposed To The Leed Program Or To Green Building - I'm Not.
Green
Building
Program
You Have Freedom, So You Have To Make Choices - And At The Point When I Make A Choice, The Building Starts To Look Like A Frank Gehry Building. It's A Signature.
Choices
Signatures
Looks
Take What Comes Your Way. Do The Best With It. Be Responsible As You Can And Something Good Will Happen.
Responsibility
Way
Responsible
Well, I've Always Just - I've Never Really Gone Out Looking For Work. I Always Waited For It To Sort Of Hit Me On The Head.
Gone
Wells
Looking For Work
Most Of Our Cities Built Since The War Are Bland. They're Modernist, They're Cold, And Now Architects Want To Go Back To That.
War
Cities
Want
If You're Serious About Being An Architect, You've Got To Learn How To Take Responsibility.
Responsibility
Serious
Architect
The Fact Is I'm An Opportunist. I'll Take Materials Around Me, Materials On My Table, And Work With Them As I'm Searching For An Idea That Works.
Ideas
Tables
Facts
When I Start My Class I Ask The Students To Write Their Signatures On Pieces Of Paper And Put Them On A Table. I Have Them Look At Them, And I Point Out, "they're All Different, Aren't They? That's You, That's You, That's You, That's You."
Writing
Class
Signatures
I Didn't Have Any Interest In Doing Rich People's Homes. I Still Don't.
Home
People
Rich
With Computers We Can Work Everything Out From The Beginning.
Computer
The Idealism [in Architecture] Is In The Formal Arrangement, The Relationship To The City, The Use Of Materials That Are Available To Me. That's Where I Say Our Powers Are Limited.
Cities
Use
Architecture
There Is An Order To Our Environment, A Broader Order.
Order
Environment
Our Environment
My Father Was An Urchin That Lived In Hell's Kitchen. He Was Part Of A Family Of Nine. I Mean, There Were Times That Were Better And Worse, But Mostly, By The Time We Got To L.a., They'd Lost Whatever They Had. And It Was A Sad Time. And Both He And I Became Truck Drivers For Different Companies.
Father
Mean
Kitchen
It Should Begin Much Earlier With Arts Education In The American School System, Which Is Sadly Deficient.
Art
School
Should
Most Of What's Around Us Is Banal. We Live With It. We Accept It As Inevitable.
Accepting
Inevitable
My Father Always Told Me That I Was Going To Be A Failure - I Think He Was More Talking About Himself, But I Didn't Know It At The Time.
Father
Thinking
Talking
You See A Lot Of So-called Architecture That Part Of The Ego Trip Overpowers The Functionality And The Budget And All That Stuff.
Ego
Stuff
Architecture
A Well-designed Home Has To Be Very Comfortable. I Can't Stand The Aesthetes, The Minimal Thing. I Can't Live That Way. My Home Has To Be Filled With Stuff - Mostly Paintings, Sculpture, My Fish Lamps, Cardboard Furniture, Lots Of Books.
Book
Home
Furniture
You Never Build The Perfect Building. Only Allah Is Perfect. Life Is Such. You Make Decisions On Conclusions, Then Some Guy Invents Something Else And The World Changes. That's Comforting. There's No One Way To Use Museums, No One Way To Do Art. That Also Means There Is No One Way To Build Museums.
Art
Mean
Perfect
I've Been Told I Have The Biggest Ego In The World And That It Manifests Itself When You Come To Me And Say, 'i Don't Like This' Or 'i Want A Change'... And That I Relish That Because My Ego's So Big I Think I Can Solve Whatever You Throw At Me And Make It Even Better. I Enjoy The Interaction And The Challenge.
Thinking
Ego
Challenges
For Me, Every Day Is A New Thing.
New Things
An Architect Is Given A Program, Budget, Place, And Schedule. Sometimes The End Product Rises To Art - Or At Least People Call It That.
Art
People
Schedules
Everyone Has A Desire, If Not A Need, To Use Their Individual Signatures. Whenever People Meet To Talk About A Project, Even Stuffy Old Businessmen, They Say They Want To Create Something New.
People
Desire
Needs
One Of My Greatest Influences Is The Italian Artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Artist
Italian
Influence
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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