Sticking to a diet required me to have a permanently low self-esteem. But happily I developed other skills beyond a fluctuating weight eventually building up a different source of self-worth.

Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training diet and mental approach.

If you've got a big gut and you start doing sit-ups you are going to get bigger because you build up the muscle. You've got to get rid of that fat! How do you get rid of fat? By changing your diet.

Once you come up with a premise you have to work out how it all happened. It's a bit like coming up with a spectacular roof design first. Before you can get it up there you need to build a solid foundation and supporting structure.

Biological engineering is not necessarily understanding systems but rather I want to be able to design and build biological systems to perform particular applications.

I had been impressed by the fact that biological systems were based on molecular machines and that we were learning to design and build these sorts of things.

There is no reason to design buildings that are more basic and rectilinear because with concrete you can cover almost any space.

And then build a bustling wonderful city of the 21st century with a restoration of a spectacular skyline which Manhattan of course needs. So that is really the design as a whole.

I actually started as a model builder and quickly progressed into production design which made sense because I could draw and paint. But I kept watching that guy over there who was moving the actors around and setting up the shots.

The level of detail and craft is something that's inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw I know what kind of detailing I want the building to have.

No wonder the film industry started in the desert in California where like all desert dwellers they dream their buildings rather than design them.

You can be a mason and build 50 buildings but it doesn't mean you can design one.

I think there is a new awareness in this 21st century that design is as important to where and how we live as it is for museums concert halls and civic buildings.

When I design buildings I think of the overall composition much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.

Good buildings come from good people ad all problems are solved by good design.

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

You can design and create and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.