Helmut Jahn

“Sometimes I have to accept a job I don't really want. Hardly anybody comes up to you with a commission; it's all competitions these days.”

“I'm just a nice and easy person.”

“Chinese buildings are like American buildings, with big footprints. People don't care about daylight or fresh air.”

“Transparency is not the same as looking straight through a building: it's not just a physical idea, it's also an intellectual one.”

“You'd never think of taking a cab if you had to walk a mile down Chicago's Michigan Avenue. But in a bad city you take a cab just to go around the corner.”

“When I came to America in the '60s, it was the place to be. I wonder if I'd come here today.”

“I've never looked at a suburban building as being a minor building and an urban building as being a major building.”

“In Europe, they're more demanding, the ones that rent the build ings.”

“Working is actually a pleasure. It's just very time-consuming. It's a way of life. I find that I can work when I travel and work when I run. There is nothing like, on a rainy day, to work.”

“The architecture profession has lost a lot of its integrity, especially in the USA. The general architect here has no scruples, no ambitions.”

“I find if my body feels well and I exercise regularly, I think better, work better and feel better.”

“I strive for an architecture from which nothing can be taken away.”

“For me, drawing generates thinking and vice versa.”

“I'm ashamed to be German.”

“Critics are entitled to have an opinion, but how can they judge how comfortable a building is? No critic is smart enough to judge how a building will perform over time.”

“I wanted to improve the suburban office building; to create a great urban space in a suburban environment with all that implies about interaction, collaboration and creativity.”

“In Europe, architects consider themselves artists. They think they're special when they win a competition.”

“Higher ceilings allow the use indirect lighting, which is much healthier and reduces glare.”

“I think there will be a 200-story skyscraper someday. However, it will require a developer who will not think in conventional terms and for whom economic restraints won't apply.”

“A good engineer thinks in reverse and asks himself about the stylistic consequences of the components and systems he proposes.”