Not getting people to understand the vision is hard. The plaza is the key part of Snowbird. I fought against the position of the Cliff Lodge because it was distant from the plaza, and because of the distance you had to get in the car. The idea was not to get in the car. I was disappointed to not see it fulfilled in its entirety. But yeah, I’m very proud of Snowbird, but I would like to have kept it tighter — less compromise. What changes in architecture have you experienced in your career? When I was just a kid, I met Frank Lloyd Wright; I must have been 17, 18 years old. I raised my hand. I said, “Mr. Wright, what do you do first?” He said, “Young man, I do it all at once.” Whoa, all at once. But that’s the truth. I hear the notions that it is plan driven. It’s not plan driven if you can see the building while you’re drawing the plan. In the computer technology, they are not seeing the whole building. I think that’s a problem. But at the same time, we can’t live without the computer. I understand all the programs, how they all work, but I still draw. I think it’s about thinking first, it’s about the pencil drawing because it’s the most transparent between the mind and the hand. And then after that it’s making, and then after it is computing, it goes in a circle. And that notion actually is from Renzo Piano. That’s his notion about the circular motion of how one creates. So, you think, you draw, you make a model, you compute. Right now, young people tend not to draw. They tend not to see the whole picture. They don’t visualize that because they’re too busy doing it and it’s not the same. That doesn’t mean to say it’s not important, but it’s important as well not to just think that the machine’s going to do it by itself. Your advice for a young architect? Don’t forget that architecture is an art form. I want to see the spiritual side. Certainly, the computer is important, but you’ve got to look at the computer as a tool. AI cannot take To watch the full interview, please scan this QR code. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9koNRAEDiY over. Certainly, it will help you, but I think that you really need to draw still. You need to think and never compromise your principles. I think art and architecture have to be both noun and verb. If we’re not doing the spiritual side or making something that’s going to make people happier or respond to it, then I don’t think it’s successful. I don’t want to see architecture as just a business. Certainly, we have to do that, but it’s also very important that it be considered an art form. I like to think my teaching is not just teaching about architecture, but about life and about broader things: about integrity. People claim work that they didn’t do. That’s not acceptable. John Sugden said he had lunch with Philip Johnson. He went back to Mies van der Rohe’s office and he said, “Philip Johnson is claiming to have been the architect for the Seagram Building.” Mies just took a big, long drag on his cigar and said, “John, better Philip claims my work instead of the other way around.” Big statement. It’s better to give credit to people who have done the work, than for them to simply assume that you’ve done something individually or to claim someone else’s work. That happens all too often. I think that truth is the most important principle I can think of. I think work is actually a religion. A lot of people work to live. I live to work. That’s my life, and that’s why I still practice, and I’m still involved. That’s what I am. I’m an architect and that’s what makes me tick. 15
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