It is quite interesting that whilst there are tremendous theories, in the 1960s when IT was born, everybody was supposedly going to their cottage in the countryside to work in a virtual way.

You know, the environment is fragmenting, and the environment is, in many places, absolutely hideous!

If you live in a squalid environment, then of course you are going to want to get out of it, you are probably going to want to get into the country, because that’s what it does.

There has to be policies about that, about what materials we use and so on.

This is a pivotal time for urban regeneration. We must take a long term view.

I’m just saying that there are high quality materials, and when we change them then there should be a way of changing them so that you can celebrate that change – rather than just ‘mix it up’.

My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we – architects – can effect the quality of life of the people.

If I remember rightly Holland for instance has something like 45, and it’s a much smaller country. In comparison we have very few and they are very badly financed.

I believe very strongly, and have fought since many years ago – at least over 30 years ago – to get architecture not just within schools, but architecture talked about under history, geography, science, technology, art.

So I think that, yes, anything that makes it more palatable and easier to understand, such as a Virtual Centre, has to be seen as a primary activity within the educational and information global state.

Form follows profit is the aesthetic principle of our times.

The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.

I think you could make a completely Virtual Centre, though I have a general feeling, and maybe because I am getting very old, that you still need face to face.

Everyone has the right to walk from one end of the city to the other in secure and beautiful spaces. Everybody has the right to go by public transport. Everybody has the right to an unhampered view down their street, not full of railings, signs and rubbish.

It is quite interesting that whilst there are tremendous theories, in the 1960s when IT was born, everybody was supposedly going to their cottage in the countryside to work in a virtual way.

I think we did a pretty good role, linking, being a sounding board really and a driving force, especially from the bottom up. I think that part of this is bottom up as well as top down.