But I absolutely believe that architecture is a social activity that has to do with some sort of communication or places of interaction, and that to change the environment is to change behaviour. – Thom Mayne
Im often called an old-fashioned modernist. But the modernists had the absurd idea that architecture could heal the world. Thats impossible. And today nobody expects architects to have these grand visions any more. – Thom Mayne
You might say that when you step inside, youre entering a honorific space, but thats something totally different than experiencing it. And in architecture the experience comes first. That has the deepest effect on us. – Thom Mayne
The aesthetic of architecture has to be rooted in a broader idea about human activities like walking, relaxing and communicating. Architecture thinks about how these activities can be given added value. – Thom Mayne
Let us not forget that the European Community started as a project for peace after the terrible Second World War. And today people take for granted the freedom to travel, to study, to work abroad. And the citizens of one country have almost exactly the same rights as another country. – Jose Manuel Barroso