I don’t like Johannesburg, where I grew up. Everybody lives in ‘gated’ buildings, is paranoid about crime and is always talking about being mugged. It’s not a very joyful place.
It’s our job as curators to open up Hampton Court to visitors, and to look after the buildings and collections for the future.
Detroit is a city that really stands out. It’s been through a very difficult time. There’s been a lot of pain here, and the city, physically, has suffered. You can see it in certain neighborhoods, and there’s buildings downtown that have been abandoned.
If you look over the course of a hundred years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that’s held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings.
When an author creates a town in her novels, she spends a great deal of time visualizing the streets and buildings, landmarks and topography. And while the town becomes real in her imagination, it’s rare for an author to see the place she’s created actually spring to life.
I like to study culture and buildings and it’s something I do on tour.
My buildings will be my legacy… they will speak for me long after I’m gone.
I always lived in old buildings, and I thought about who lived here before. You’d have to be oblivious not to.
Films and gramophone records, music, books and buildings show clearly how vigorously a man’s life and work go on after his ‘death,’ whether we feel it or not, whether we are aware of the individual names or not. There is no such thing as death according to our view!
