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" For many years, I hated nature. As a student, I refused to put a plant anywhere - a living plant, that is. Dead plants were OK. "

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" I think it's good if areas get upgraded and gentrified, as long as the people who always lived there can stay. But they get pushed out to some place. "

" I have always appreciated those who dare to experiment with materials and proportions. "

" As a woman, I'm expected to want everything to be nice and to be nice myself. A very English thing. I don't design nice buildings - I don't like them. I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthy quality. "

" I can't focus when there's too many things around. Whenever I used to go to the office, I used to always say, 'Tidy up.' "

" Society has not been set up in a way that allows women to go back to work after taking time off. Many women now have to work as well as do everything at home and no one can do everything. Society needs to find a way of relieving women. "

" I don't think I am that tough, actually. Well, tough in the sense that I don't take any rubbish, and that doesn't make me very popular, frankly. I mean, because some people say something to me, and I just tell them off. I mean, why should I put up with it? "

" Architecture is unnecessarily difficult. It's very tough. "

" People say I design architectural icons. If I design a building and it becomes an icon, that's ok. "

" The commission process in America and England is different. In America, they do it through an interview process, and it's really based on whether they like you or not. I mean, it's nothing to do with whether you do the best scheme or the worst scheme. "

" Contrary to popular view, I've never been patronized in the Middle East. Men maybe treat women differently, but they do not treat them with disrespect. They don't hate women. It's a very different kind of mentality. "

" The spirit of adventure to embrace the new and the incredible belief in the power of invention attracted me to the Russian avant-garde. "

" My father was a politician, and a very important politician, and one of the leaders of the Iraqi Democratic Party, who believed in progress. "

" I've always thought that design can have equal importance to the idea of internal architecture. Professionally, things can be very dogmatic - you do the architecture, someone else does the interiors, someone else does the furniture, the fabric, etc. But I think design is all-encompassing. "

" You don't always have to show art in what's called a white box; you can have a kind of complexity within an exhibit which actually respects the art as well. "

" I love driving around east London - it's always full of surprises. Actually, I don't drive myself - I like to be driven. "

" Being Iraqi taught me to be very cautious. "

" I really love Miami, but I don't think the architecture matches the city. It's a bit too commercial. "

" I miss aspects of being in the Arab world - the language - and there is a tranquility in these cities with great rivers. Whether it's Cairo or Baghdad, you sit there and you think, 'This river has flown here for thousands of years.' There are magical moments in these places. "

" If you think about making a city that is much more porous, many accessible spaces, that is a political position, because you don't fortify, you open it up so that many people can use it. "

" I am equally proud of all of my architectural projects. It's always rewarding to see an ambitious design become reality. "

" I have always appreciated designers who dare to reinterpret fabrics and proportions, so I follow the Japanese and Belgian designers. The pieces are so animated. When they lie still, they are one thing, but once you stand them up or wear them, they become something else. "

" Education, housing and hospitals are the most important things for society. "

" I'm a pushover. I make allowances for people if I like them. "

" If I wanted to do clothes or if I wanted to make a building or design a choreography, you are able to do that - they are all under a similar kind of design umbrella. "

" I'm into fashion because it contains the mood of the day, of the moment - like music, literature, and art. "

" I don't think that architecture is only about shelter, is only about a very simple enclosure. It should be able to excite you, to calm you, to make you think. "

" I find industrial cities exciting. I like their toughness. "

" It's very important for cities all around the world to reinvent themselves, and Glasgow is a good example of that. The Scots are very nice. I don't think they are burdened by their history. "

" What's similar between Britain and America is the lack of good-quality civic buildings. "

" Obviously for some people there is a big connection between music and the way you can create a space. "