on what drives

I don't believe in need as a force at all. Need is a current, everyday affair. But desire -- that is something else again. Desire is the forerunner of a new need. It is the yet not stated, the yet not made which motivates.

- Louis I. Kahn, in conversation, 1973

on locational character

Of course there are some spaces which should be flexible, but there are also some which should be completely inflexible. They should be just sheer inspiration... just the place to be, the place which does not change, except for the people who go in and out.

- Louis I. Kahn, in conversation, 1969

on mutual beautification

A great American poet once asked the architect, 'What slice of the sun does your building have? What light enters your room?' -- as if to say the sun never knew how great it is until it struck the side of a building.

- Romaldo Giurgola & Jaimini Mehta, Louis I. Kahn, pg. 187