I'm a bad customer for my own buildings! If I'm choosing an apartment, I choose one about five or six stories high so that I can see the people, the trees, and the world on the street. Beyond that, I lose contact with the ground!
Interpretation
The quote reflects the importance of being connected to the environment and community in architectural design.
Cesar Pelli emphasizes the significance of human connection to the surroundings in architecture, using his preference for mid-rise buildings as an example. He believes that buildings should allow inhabitants to experience their environment and maintain a relationship with the ground and community rather than feeling isolated in tall structures.
In practice
In a discussion about urban planning, this quote can highlight the need for mid-rise buildings that promote community interaction.
I realize that having a style would be very beneficial for my practice from a marketing standpoint, but I can't do it. I believe my responsibilities as an architect are to design the most appropriate building for the place. Each place has a distinct culture and function, which for me requires an appropriate answer.
Architecture adds dimensions to my life that would be impossible to acquire if I retired. The beautiful thing about architecture is that every project is brand new. I am forced to renew myself with every project. Isn't that wonderful?
I'm particularly interested in the public role that all buildings play. I believe that we architects should try to go beyond our basic obligations to the public, and our opportunities to do so are many.
My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we - architects - can effect the quality of life of the people.
There is a danger when every building has to look spectacular; to look like it is changing the world. I don't care how a building looks if it means something, not to architects, but to the people who use it.
Architects today tend to depreciate themselves, to regard themselves as no more than just ordinary citizens without the power to reform the future.
The criteria for architecture after the tsunami is humbleness
We try to make buildings last long and be resilient but also be not so idiosyncratic that they can't change.
We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up to the idea that a good building can change your life (and a bad one ruin it).
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