Cesar Pelli

Speaking of which, do you think the international market for "signature" architecture sparked by Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, ended with Sept. 11?

I don't think Sept. 11 will affect that particular trend. I think it's something else. Frank Gehry really had a wonderful building in Bilbao, and it's also a great tool for attracting a kind of tourism that city didn't have before. But I believe many other institutions and places that are trying to repeat this are going to be very disappointed. The kind of architecture that Frank does is extremely difficult to pull off. Plus with today's economy it's more difficult. Unquestionably there is a great demand for signature buildings. But like all fashions -- and this is unquestionably a fashion -- it will pass.

Unlike Gehry, you don't have one identifiable style. What's your approach to design?

I realize that having a style would be very beneficial for my practice from a marketing standpoint, but I can't do it. I believe my responsibilities as an architect are to design the most appropriate building for the place. Each place has a distinct culture and function, which for me requires an appropriate answer. I need to design a building that fits there very well.

I will say that that's also one of the great things about the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. That building fits in that particular place where Frank put it extremely well. I've seen designs by other architects who are trying to do something as idiosyncratic and artistic as Frank Gehry, and they don't fit very well. They stick out like sore thumbs.

How does being an immigrant affect your outlook in the United States?

One of America's strengths has always been its openness to the new: both new ideas and new people. We may see a slight slowdown in immigration temporarily, but I think we will and should continue accepting new people and new ideas. I don't see a long-term change to immigration. People may need to bring more documents and prove more things in order to get into the country, but those are things we can put up with under the circumstances.

Do you still enjoy practicing architecture as much as you did before Sept. 11?

Yes, I enjoy it all, every part of the process. For example, I just found out about half an hour ago that we've been selected to design some laboratories for the University of Houston. Oh, my God, it'll be fantastic in so many ways! It's wonderful how all the ideas develop at the beginning, and then the building starts taking form.

Sometimes getting to that point is difficult, because the forms and solutions that go into a building have to be just right. But when we come up with those correct ideas, and I think about the building performing for the scientists and the students there, it's just fantastic. And I love it when I go back 10 years later and people tell me about how happy they are.

You've been practicing architecture for half a century now. When did you first know you wanted to be an architect?

I was 17 years old. I had entered the School of Architecture in my hometown of Tucuman, Argentina, but I wasn't sure yet that I wanted to be an architect. This was a beaux-arts school, so we were doing lots of formal designs for temples and parapets and tombs and urns. I couldn't make any sense of how learning this would really help serve my hometown. Halfway through the year, though, some young architects came to the school and brought the ideas of modernism, that we could design buildings that would contribute something to making people's lives better: hospitals, schools, bus stations. Suddenly I realized that architecture could have a deep social purpose. That was a revelation to me, and I knew it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

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