When I Was Building The Vietnam Memorial,

Architecture Is Like A Mythical Fantastic. It Has To Be Experienced. It Can't Be Described. We Can Draw It Up And We Can Make Models Of It, But It Can Only Be Experienced As A Complete Whole.

In Art Or Architecture Your Project Is Only Done When You Say It's Done. If You Want To Rip It Apart At The Eleventh Hour And Start All Over Again, You Never Finish. I Was One Of Those Crazy Creatures.

I Probably Spent The First 20 Years Of My Life Wanting To Be As American As Possible. Through My 20s, And Into My 30s, I Began To Become Aware Of How So Much Of My Art And Architecture Has A Decidedly Eastern Character.

It Terrified Me To Have An Idea That Was Solely Mine To Be No Longer A Part Of My Mind, But Totally Public.

I Begin By Imagining An Artwork Verbally. I Try To Describe In Writing What The Project Is, What It Is Trying To Do. I Need To Understand The Artwork Without Giving It A Specific Materiality Or Solid Form.