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I remember, as a young architect, people always talked about I. M. Pei's concrete. He had a particular specification no one else knew.

Annabelle Selldorf

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Annabelle Selldorf
Age: 54
Architect
Cologne
Germany
Else
Remember
Specification
Young
Specifications
Always
Architect
People
Talked
Concrete
Particular
Knew

More quotes by Annabelle Selldorf

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I was brought up to reuse things.
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I'm not so interested in technology for technology's sake. I don't need incredibly sophisticated climate-control systems. And I'm absolutely amazed at the time people spend exchanging messages I don't have a lot of time left over for those things.
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The secret of good architecture is having more than meets the eye.
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Architecture is about aging well, about precision and authenticity. There is much more to the success of a building than what you can see. Im not suggesting that gestural architecture is always superficial, but solid reasoning has its place.
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One of the things I've always loved about New York is there is so much precedent for ornament on industrial buildings.
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When everything is perfectly orderly and understandable, there has to be one thing that puts everything into question.
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I think when you look at architectural photography it doesn't help to have piles of old clothes lying on the floor. Architectural photography sets up an artifice.
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All clients think that they are architects.
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When you have rules to abide by, does that curtail you as a designer, or set you free? People think of classical architecture visually, but I think the brilliant part of it is actually spatial.
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To me, the nicest luxury would be to have a room where I could keep all my books in one place - and have space for more.
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I make spaces that are calm rather than confrontational. I seek a certain kind of logic that allows you to move in space and perceive it as beautiful and rational. Clarity is a worthwhile quality.
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What I do isn't radical. It's just distinct in small ways.
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Tension is an interesting quality - and architecture must have it. There should be elements of the inexplicable, the mysterious, and the poetic in something that is perfectly rational.
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There's no architect who doesn't want to build a library - and I am no different. With so much scrutiny now attached to reading - because of technology and how we approach it as a social activity - that is a very exciting area in architecture.
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I never like things that don't look nice. It's really that simple.
Annabelle Selldorf
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So much of what makes a room great is how you enter and circulate through it, how it addresses the body.
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I know I'm old-fashioned, but there's just something about the act of looking at books versus taking in information on a screen, which is so one-dimensional. There's a sense of ownership that you have with books, a physical connection.
Annabelle Selldorf
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I'm inspired by looking at art, by looking at precedent. Looking is what you have to do if you want to make things, so you develop a critical eye.
Annabelle Selldorf