Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An architect known for distinctive, compelling buildings with sinuous, soaring forms and complex geometrics, who won top awards and was part of an elite design
On the island
Eight records
I used to sing, uh not professionally, so this is one of these songs I used to sing.
I used to live in Baghdad, and um my father was a very serious man. And he used to sometimes record it because these recordings were not easy to get. I think I was in 15 years old or something. And he was away. So I said, I'll stay up and I'll record it. And subsequently, I went to s listen to her in the ruins of Albaq in Lebanon in the late sixties and the early seventies. It was a just a magical moment.
When I was a like thirteen when they well, fourteen, when when they first started, uh remember my brother, who used to live in London, sent me uh records saying, This is the greatest thing now in England and, um And when I came to London that summer, all I wanted to do is see the movie, you know, A Hard Days' Night or whatever it was called.
Everybody's Talkin'Favourite
It's one of my favorite films ever, Finnet Cowboy, and I love that song.
Well, this reminds me of my office actually, in that period in the nineties. We know architects are crazy. We do all nighters. We used to do five nights, no sleep.
I think she has a great voice and when I was listening to it four years ago, it was the summer of the Olympics, as I told you earlier, I s turned to listen to the same music over and over again. So last summer was Adele.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:37Do you think architecture has the power to alleviate oppressive situations or elevate culture?
I think so, yes. Well, I mean, you know, I'm not in terms of the the formalism of the building, but if when you think about if you can gr make great housing, you can create streets, you can you can make libraries, concert halls, I mean, you can just add to the culture of the the place. You know, my view is that if you do public buildings some of us are privileged, we've traveled the world, we go here and there. But not everybody has that uh luxury. And I think it's very important to bring these kind of magic moments which we'll find through buildings or landscape or looking at something amazing to your locale. So people can take a Bus ride, a train ride. and go and be in these places.
Presenter asks
5:59How much do you compromise when working for a very big organization?
In this case, actually, we didn't. I mean, there's always in all the projects you have to change things. But it's very important that your main idea doesn't get diluted.
Presenter asks
6:21If a client says your design is impractical because it requires individually engineered steel pieces, what would your reply be?
The keepsakes
The luxury
Or maybe some photographs from my young days in Baghdad. A family photograph album then.
You know, I try to kind of accommodate them. I mean, I think it's very important. People are spending money on these things. It's also very important to do something very good. And I think as an architect, I think you need to know the logic of engineering. I didn't know that at the beginning. And let's say I used to like building floating. But I know that they can't float. Now I might want to make the building look light. That they look floating. That's different. Then you devise a method of making very light way of landing. So the engineers have to sort out how that's done. I I used to work with a guy called Peter Rice, who's a brilliant engineer who passed away almost twenty years ago. And I was doing a building in Tokyo and In Japan because of the earthquake, the the building had to be the the legs had to come like a chair down. And it really bothered me and had no energy. And he was so focused, he spent five minutes there. He said, What do you want it to do? And I said, I wanted to do that. He said, Well, actually you can do more. You can skew the column. And so I realized that was also a lesson that you can do certain things which you don't think can be done. I don't know how to do it, but he was the expert. He knew how to do it.
Presenter asks
8:00What do you tell young, eager students about the best way to realize their ambitions?
It's a skill, you know, you need to learn a skill, not a skill of making things, even thinking. And imagining is a skill. And so I think a student has to always challenge the topic constantly. I mean, you push the boundaries with the students all the time. It's a an amazing moment of experimentation.
Presenter asks
10:01How present was politics in family life when you were growing up in Baghdad?
Well, it was very present, of course, because you know, first of all, there were all these ups and downs in Iraq revolutions in 1958, and you saw it first hand. After that, there were coups. But it was also a very important topic for my father, so we all talked about it. But I was a very curious child. I used to, you know, puss my parents all the time with questions. My father was very patient and he answered me he actually explained everything to me.
Presenter asks
20:43How did you deal with the disappointment when your first big win, The Peak in Hong Kong, was never built?
Nippoli. I mean, I just I I mean, it was upsetting, but I it wasn't the end of the world. Do you like tough times? Are you good?
“I think it's very important to bring these kind of magic moments which we'll find through buildings or landscape or looking at something amazing to your locale.”
“I used to like building floating. But I know that they can't float. Now I might want to make the building look light. That they look floating. That's different.”
“I always say it's a triple whammy. I'm a woman. Which is a problem to many people. I'm a foreigner, not a big problem. and do work which is not uh normative, which is not what they expect. So together it becomes difficult.”
“I think it's my shy side. Because I don't like overdo the flattery and complimenting, they almost think it's rude. Because they're so used to people. you know, as licking and All that. They think it's rude not to do it.”
“I don't really feel I'm part of the establishment. No, I'm not outside. I'm on the kind of edge. Undangling there.”