Building Moments

In every place I try to do that. In the Quai Branly museum, I created a public park and put the museum in the middle. If you look at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, I created a strong link with the park along the Mississippi River and the view of the waterfalls—and with a public terrace and the restaurant. It's very im portant to create a desire for the inhabi tants of the city to go to a place like that and enjoy it.

Clearly, you were inspired by the Mississippi. When we spoke at the time the Guthrie opened, I asked if you knew the song, "Old Man River," and you immediately began to sing it!
(Laughs)

You're very busy these days. What about the 75-story tower, the Tour de Verre, you're building next to the Museum of Modern Art in New York?
I am very excited by that. Manhattan is a vertical city and to create the spirit of the skyscraper there is to put another piece in a historical city. It is a dream project for an architect.

© 2008