- guardian.co.uk, Sunday September 22 2002 00.30 BST
- The Observer, Sunday September 22 2002
The world is full of beautiful things, and you have to be observant as an architect - if not, you are in trouble. Creativity is everywhere. I don't collect beautiful pieces of design, but I do collect airmail stickers, which I find fascinating: how they differ over the years and the energy that goes into them.
I come into the office every day. I like to arrive at 8am, as this is a very peaceful period when I can think about things before the usual routine starts and other people arrive. The weekends are even better, because there are no distractions.
The initial idea for a job comes to me literally just like that sometimes, and if that first idea is good then you are on the right track. It's not a sign of creativity to have 65 ideas for one problem, that's just a waste of energy.
I also don't think you need to go anywhere particular to be creative; people just use that as an excuse. But I do think a lot of creativity depends on your relationships with other people, your personal relationships, your partner or whatever. Your personal happiness or unhappiness comes out in your work, it's a reflection of your emotional state and you can't separate the two.
Architecture is generally presented by one name, but it's a fantasy and very 19th-century to claim it is a one-man product. A lot depends on the people you have around you and how good they are. There are the structural engineers, environmental engineers, modelmakers, photographers - as well as the guy in Italy who polished the steel for the tower we're presenting at the Venice Biennale this year - if he doesn't do a good job, then you have a badly polished piece of steel.
The biggest mistake is underestimating the small product. It doesn't matter if you're designing a coffee cup or a 25,000sqm building - the principles of design are the same, it's just a matter of scale. I think perhaps my favourite creation is the Media Centre. It is something which was revolutionary in many areas - a real technical achievement - but above all, the people operating inside it have said: 'We love it,' and that's great.
