Ideal working environment

Hammock and a sketchbook.

Lucky break

I was working as a set designer for the legendary 'b' movie king, Roger Corman, when a producer asked me if I was interested in an adventure. A week later I was in Romania designing an enormous back lot for American production companies to film overseas. I spent the next three years bouncing around Easter Europe art directing films for American production companies. It was like going to war, except my only weapon was a sketchbook.

Dream commission

A public school in an inner city.

Lamest buzzword

Green. When oil companies tell you they are "green" then you know the word has become almost meaningless.

Highest Compliment

Being entrusted with someone's architectural project- often the biggest investment of their lives- is a pretty big compliment all by itself.

A Book

"The Age of Entanglement: When quantum physics was reborn." by Luisa Gilder. An intellectual odyssey into the eerie structure of reality. Its even odder than you can imagine.

A Film

Funny: The Royal Tannenbaums.

Scary: The Japanese film, "The Woman in the Dunes" (Suna no Onna)
(1964) Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara.

An Album

"Juan Manuel" by Plastilina Mosh

Eureka moment

The first time I took off the training wheels from my bike. I tasted pure freedom for ten wonderful seconds before I crashed into a tree. It was worth every second. But that feeling of excitement that comes from taking a risk never left me.

Worst idea

Leftover sushi.

Best advice

Everything takes twice as long as you think.

When not designing

I somehow still end up designing. If its not a building, then its a graphic poster, a piece of furniture, a garden, whatever. I'd rather make something then buy something.

Best seat in the house

Whatever seat has a dog curled underneath it, is always the best seat in our house.

I wish I had

A keyboard that is impervious to hot coffee. Or a pair of retractable wings.

Looking forward to

The completion of the Large Hadron Collider. Either it will provide the deepest glimpse yet into the fundamental nature of reality or it will create a black hole that destroys us all.