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"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."
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"My first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983. I set foot in this city, and just walking down the street, it was like roots, like the motherland. I knew I belonged here."
"There are enough Poles in Chicago to make up one of the largest cities in Poland."
"In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side."
"I think that unless you grew up in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles, you're sheltered."
"It was impossible for me to believe that conditions in Europe could be worse than they were in the Polish section of Chicago, and in many Italian and Irish tenements, or that any workshops could be worse than some of those I had seen in our foreign quarters."
Explore more quotes by Helmut Jahn
"It's my goal to make a building as immaterial as possible. Architecture is a very material thing. It takes a lot of resources, so why not eliminate what you don't need as long as you're able to achieve the same result?"
"The architecture profession has lost a lot of its integrity, especially in the USA. The general architect here has no scruples, no ambitions."
"When I think of some of my earlier work, it really seems a fortunate coincidence that I succeeded."
"When I came to America in the '60s, it was the place to be. I wonder if I'd come here today."
"Chinese buildings are like American buildings, with big footprints. People don't care about daylight or fresh air."
"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."
"We prefer synthetic rather than natural materials. Natural products are almost too valuable. Wood is much harder to produce than metal. And metal is recyclable, while wood isn't."
"In Europe, architects consider themselves artists. They think they're special when they win a competition."
"You don't know what the Chinese expect in the way of beauty. The presentation is just a farce. You come into a room filled with 50 people and they don't talk to you. There's very little interaction."
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