I take the museum space also as sacred in a sense.

We borrow from nature the space upon which we build.

There is a role and function for beauty in our time.

In all my works, light is an important controlling factor.

As long as you have an objective in your mind you are young.

When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together.

The speed of change makes you wonder what will become of architecture.

My hand is the extension of the thinking process - the creative process.

If there is only one culture all over the world, that's not a good thing.

But now, more and more, its society is concerned with economy and finance.

I believe that the way people live can be directed a little by architecture.

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

At the same time, I would add that the American people have a lot of courage.

All architecture has a public nature, I believe, so I would like to make a public space.

If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.

I would like my architecture to inspire people to use their own resources, to move into the future.

Japanese architecture is traditionally based on wooden structures that need renovating on a regular basis.

You always want to try to make something new, and, of course, America is the world leader in economics today.

You can't really say what is beautiful about a place, but the image of the place will remain vividly with you.

My objective is to design a space that nobody else can come up with while using the material that anyone can use.

Look at London or Paris: they're both filthy. You don't get that in Tokyo. The proud residents look after their city.

In Italy, there are so many significant architectural structures in history such as the Pantheon in Rome, or the Duomo.

I don't believe architecture has to speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind

Working in Tokyo has convinced me that, contrary to what people think, it is actually one of the world's most beautiful cities.

I think of the past and the future as well as the present to determine where I am, and I move on while thinking of these things.

I like ruins because what remains is not the total design, but the clarity of thought, the naked structure, the spirit of the thing.

People tend not to use this word beauty because it's not intellectual - but there has to be an overlap between beauty and intellect.

I think everyone needs a goal. And what kind of goal will be important. And for that we have to study and we have to be intelligent.

I am interested in things happening around me, and I need to understand what's going on in other artistic sectors like music and literature.

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

I think architecture becomes interesting when it has a double character, that is, when it is as simple as possible but, at the same time as complex as possible

But in Japan, there's nothing like that, since the temple is made of wood. The divine spirit inside the building is eternal, so the enclosure doesn't have to be.

If I can create some space that people haven't experienced before and if it stays with them or gives them a dream for the future, that's the kind of structure I seek to create.

I think that capitalism has just gone too far. And it is actually not limited to the United States. The excesses of capitalism is making us suffer all over the world right now.

I hope America can also be the cultural leader of the world, and use this frontier spirit to lead and show others that we need courage to go places where we have not gone before.

I believe that architecture is fundamentally a public space where people can gather and communicate, think about the history, think about the lives of human beings, or the world.

Japanese traditional architecture is created based on these conditions. This is the reason you have a very high degree of connection between the outside and inside in architecture.

The level of detail and craft is something that's inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw, I know what kind of detailing I want the building to have.

Without this spirit, Modernist architecture cannot fully exist. Since there is often a mismatch between the logic and the spirit of Modernism, I use architecture to reconcile the two.

The computer offers another kind of creativity. You cannot ignore the creativity that computer technology can bring. But you need to be able to move between those two different worlds.

All those involved in the construction of an architectural design, from the architect to the builder, have an attachment to the architecture, although it's difficult to quantify the attachment.

It wasn't that I had any great dream of being an architect. I just wanted to make things. Whether it was furniture, painting, interior design, or architecture. I just wanted to create something.

When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.

You cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on the land, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see.

Since I am a Japanese man who's been building through the experience of Japanese architecture, my actual designs come from Japanese architectural concepts, although they're based on Western methods and materials.

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.

Italy is full of historical buildings. And Europe holds a great history of philosophy from Greece until today. I read all those books and see these buildings, and I think of where I stand when I design my architecture.

In Architecture there is a part that is the result of Logical Reasoning and a part that is created through the Senses. There is always a point where they Clash. I don't think Architecture can be created without that Collision.

I hope that America as a whole, and especially its architects, will become more seriously involved in producing a new architectural culture that would bring the nation to the apex - where it has stood before - and lead the world.

There are self-made millionaires - their aspiration is first to make money. But the once that goal is achieved, they have to look for something and sometimes they become patrons of art or museums. And that is how the world should go.

Share This Page