Welcome to our collection of insightful and inspiring quotes about buildings. From architects to philosophers, writers to artists, people from all walks of life have been captivated by the structures that surround us. Buildings are not merely structures of bricks and mortar; they are reflections of human ingenuity, culture, and aspirations.
Throughout history, buildings have served as symbols of power, creativity, and identity. They stand as testaments to the civilizations that conceived them, bearing witness to the triumphs and challenges of humanity. Whether towering skyscrapers piercing the skyline or humble cottages nestled in the countryside, each building has a story to tell and a unique character to convey.
In this compilation, we delve into the thoughts and musings of individuals who have contemplated the significance of buildings in our lives. Their words offer perspectives that range from the practical to the philosophical, inviting us to ponder the profound connections between architecture and the human experience. Explore these quotes below and discover the myriad ways in which buildings shape our world and our perceptions of it.
Architects have to become designers of eco-systems. Not just designers of beautiful facades or beautiful sculptures, but systems of economy and ecology, where we channel the flow not only of people, but also the flow of resources through our cities and buildings. Bjarke Ingels
There are roles I am never considered for. Meryl Streep roles, let’s say. Why not? I really wanted to do ‘Ironweed,’ for example, because the depression era in this country was one of the best for multiracial people, because everybody was poor. Everybody lived in the tents, and under buildings, and under gratings, together. Whoopi Goldberg
Buildings should serve people, not the other way around. John Portman
The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else. John W. Gardner
Buildings are storytellers. They teach us about our history, good and bad. They tell stories about people. George Clarke
I decided to finish at Oxford because I looked up at the top of the buildings – the gargoyles and spires – and decided to stay. Rosamund Pike
Great buildings that move the spirit have always been rare. In every case they are unique, poetic, products of the heart. Arthur Erickson
We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it. John Ruskin
Had I listened to my agent, I’d be running around in tights, climbing buildings and stuff. Heath Ledger
I’m really into architecture, I’m a member of the Brutalist Appreciation Society; I’m a member of the Postmodern Society. I write letters to save buildings. Roisin Murphy
I don’t mind being a symbol but I don’t want to become a monument. There are monuments all over the Parliament Buildings and I’ve seen what the pigeons do to them. Tommy Douglas
Destroy and damage infrastructure, public buildings and government buildings. Do not leave them any place from which they can operate to damage Israel. We must be sure that Hamas will be spending many years in rebuilding Gaza and not in attacking Israel. Eli Yishai
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. Tadao Ando
Why does crime happen? Well, you might say that it’s because youths don’t have jobs. Or you might say that’s because the doors of our buildings are not fortified enough. Given some limited funds to spend, you can either create yet another national employment program or you can equip houses with even better cameras, sensors, and locks. Evgeny Morozov
I think people need housing. And there’s empty buildings, I think people should live in there. If you want to call them squatters, trespassers, hey, I call Wall Street thieves! Al Lewis
I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. George W. Bush
I want to start a Dunkin’ Donuts in Los Angeles. I already have the perfect location picked out. It would be the old Tower Records buildings on Sunset. John Krasinski
A truly moral health care system should start out by covering all of its citizens with basic health care. It would not be seduced by its technology and fancy buildings. Richard Lamm
There is one timeless way of building. It is a thousand years old, and the same today as it has ever been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. Christopher Alexander
You cannot separate the buildings out from the infrastructure of cites and the mobility of transit. Norman Foster
If you want to learn about a culture, you look at what buildings the people lived in but you also want to know about their cosmos. Marina Warner
The future of design is a future where anything material in the environment – whether it’s wearables, cars, buildings – can be designed with this variation of properties and relationship with the environment that can take part in the natural ecology. Neri Oxman
It was very clear that this was a very, very old site. There were remains of sod walls. Fishermen assumed it was an old Indian site. Bu Indians didn’t use that kind of buildings and houses. Helge Ingstad
I’m not afraid of flying; I just fear I’m going to die. I think I’m – vulnerable. I admit it. I don’t fly. I got claustrophobia. I don’t go in high buildings. I don’t do those things. I’m just myself, whatever that is. John Madden
The thing that surprised me the most is just how much money women that weren’t rich were paying for their hair. When you’re in a beauty parlor in Harlem next to abandoned buildings and somebody’s paying five grand for a weave, that’s a bit much. Chris Rock
As a woman, I’m expected to want everything to be nice and to be nice myself. A very English thing. I don’t design nice buildings – I don’t like them. I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthy quality. Zaha Hadid
I’m very interested in buildings that have meaning for a particular place. I suppose it feels slightly rude to me if the imposed style that lands in a place is almost stronger than the place. For me it’s about inventing a solution for each place; if people then want to know who did it, then great. Thomas Heatherwick
It makes the city unique and hold a charm. In old Kolkata, there are some beautiful old buildings… some of them are well-maintained; somewhere reflects what the city has gone through in the past. Soni Razdan
If the flag of an armed enemy of the U.S. is allowed to fly over government buildings, then it implies that slavery, or at least the threat of slavery, is sanctioned by that government and can still legally exist. Amiri Baraka
My buildings should have an emotional core – a space which, in itself, has an emotional nice feeling. Peter Zumthor
I was 18 and had taken A-levels in Woking where I grew up. But I didn’t want to go to university so left sixth-form college. My father was in the building industry and he found me a job stripping concrete panels off buildings. It was dangerous work on high scaffolds, sometimes 12 hours a day, Monday to Friday, and often weekends too. Sean Lock
What the people are within, the buildings express without. Louis Sullivan
Many of the original New Deal programs required heavy manual labor. WPA workers built hundreds of schools, health clinics, roads, park facilities, and community centers. Much of what we now call our ‘infrastructure’ – highways, buildings, power plants, etc. – is here thanks to thousands of WPA workers. Kathi Appelt
On Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than 400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked, ‘What God do you pray to?’ What beliefs do you hold?’ Michael Bloomberg
Fartlek, or speed play, is variable-pace running that emphasizes creativity. During a 30-minute run, choose objects to run to – telephone poles, trees, buildings, other runners, whatever. Make choices that mark off different distances, so your pickups vary in length from 15 to 90 seconds, and modify your pace to match the distance. Don Kardong
I’ve heard a lot about the iconic buildings and all that Dubai has to offer and can’t wait to experience it for myself. Pia Wurtzbach
There is a backlash against me and everyone who has done buildings that have movement and feeling. Frank Gehry
One of the small joys that’s easy to miss in London is the blue plaques on buildings. These are put up to commemorate the famous on the houses they lived in. A. A. Gill
When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me. Fred Rogers
I see my buildings as pieces of cities, and in my designs I try to make them into responsible and contributing citizens. Cesar Pelli
Our historic buildings reflect our unique past. Marty Walsh
Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. George W. Bush
After World War II great strides were made in modern Japanese architecture, not only in advanced technology, allowing earthquake resistant tall buildings, but expressing and infusing characteristics of traditional Japanese architecture in modern buildings. Harry Seidler
I came to London constantly, working with Ninja Theory on ‘DmC Devil May Cry,’ and I kind of fell in love with this amazing architecture, where you have these buildings that have clearly been around a long time, and they have this amazing gothic look, and then on the first floor, it’s a McDonald’s! Hideaki Itsuno
The one image that’s been causing a lot of discussion is one image that I shot of a man falling head-first from the building, before the buildings fell down. He was trapped in the fire, and decided to jump and take his own life, rather than being burned. Richard Drew
I think Tokyo is going to sink under water soon. All those stupid high-rise buildings will sink and maybe all the traffic will be gone. And everything will be peaceful and quiet. Hayao Miyazaki
I wanted to be considered a good craftsman. I wanted my dresses to be constructed like buildings, molded to the curves of the female form, stylizing its shape. Christian Dior
Good buildings come from good people, and all problems are solved by good design. Stephen Gardiner
For thousands of years, the most physically imposing buildings on earth were temples, churches, and mosques. But in the 20th century, new houses of worship came to dominate the landscape. Yankee Stadium is the most storied of these contemporary shrines. Thomas Hauser
Once I tried to make a standardization of staircases. Probably that is one of the oldest of the standardizations. Of course, we design new staircase steps every day in connection with all our houses, but a standardized step depends on the height of the buildings and on all kinds of things. Alvar Aalto
I’m sorry to say, but 85% of so-called ‘green’ firms make some of the ugliest buildings that were ever made. So for God’s sake, I don’t want to be categorized with them. Steven Holl
You can be a mason and build 50 buildings, but it doesn’t mean you can design one. John Malkovich
Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves. Frank Lloyd Wright
There are so many constraints on the architect that public buildings almost never feel free or enjoyable. Toyo Ito
Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don’t want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist. Maya Lin
What was new was the symbolic force of the targets struck. The attackers did not just physically cause the highest buildings in Manhattan to collapse; they also destroyed an icon in the household imagery of the American nation. Jurgen Habermas
One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train. Morihei Ueshiba
There’s no worse feeling than seeing my buildings and realizing the mistakes. Philip Johnson
Architecture is a negotiated art, and it’s highly political, and if you want to make buildings, there is diplomacy required. Thom Mayne
I love the streets of Kolkata, and I admire the old architectural buildings. Ekta Kapoor
My first book, ‘To Engineer Is Human,’ was prompted by nonengineer friends asking me why so many technological accidents and failures were occurring. If engineers knew what they were doing, why did bridges and buildings fall down? It was a question that I had often asked myself, and I had no easy answer. Henry Petroski
I’ve seen beautiful art on the sides of buildings. I’ve seen beautiful art in museums. I’ve seen beautiful art in galleries. Beautiful art is everywhere. John Mellencamp
My buildings are more famous than me. Jean Nouvel
True leaders don’t invest in buildings. Jesus never built a building. They invest in people. Why? Because success without a successor is failure. So your legacy should not be in buildings, programs, or projects; your legacy must be in people. Myles Munroe
I hate vacations. If you can build buildings, why sit on the beach? Philip Johnson
We shall not have succeeded in demolishing everything unless we demolish the ruins as well. But the only way I can see of doing that is to use them to put up a lot of fine, well-designed buildings. Alfred Jarry
Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them. Arthur Schopenhauer
I want to design jewelry for girls and guys… I’ma spread it out, but I’ma design, probably when I’m just designing furniture and buildings, I’ll probably being the jewelry thing, too. Tyler, The Creator
My buildings will be my legacy… they will speak for me long after I’m gone. Julia Morgan
In the big picture, architecture is the art and science of making sure that our cities and buildings fit with the way we want to live our lives. Bjarke Ingels
One of the general considerations about new buildings is that people tend to say that anything new is a monstrosity. And then after a while they either accept them or they go on thinking that they are monstrosities. Reactions vary. This depends to some extent on the quality of the building. Joseph Rykwert
There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature. Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners. Antoni Gaudi
The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines – so they should go as far as possible from home to build their first buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright
The artistic part of us all – I think that the easiest way to appreciate this – is through architecture. Architecture is very impressive; the beauty of buildings, temples. Carlos Slim
We’re seeing the development of tactics in Iraq, such as suicide bombing. Insurgents have been driving cars with explosives into hotels and office buildings. The recruitment may be even more prolific outside Iraq. Rand Beers
I think corporate worship is the stimulating of one another, love and good works as we come together. Even the early church came together. They didn’t have their own buildings so they went to the temple collectively. All of them who were there. There were thousands of them there. John MacArthur
I don’t think all buildings have to be iconic, but the history of the world has shown us that cultures build iconic buildings for their major public buildings. Frank Gehry
My buildings are all on budget. Frank Gehry
Nothing requires the architect’s care more than the due proportions of buildings. Vitruvius
In showbiz sometimes, we’re a little disgruntled our budgets are low, sometimes our buildings aren’t that great and the sets aren’t so cool, and all of a sudden you have these security teams showing up poking around on set and you’re on high alert. Yannick Bisson
Buildings are always better than drawings and models. Rafael Moneo
Living in Barcelona, I have my own little ghetto utopia. There are 3,000 ghost towns in Spain, and I’ve used the images of them a lot in my backdrops for my solo spoken-word stuff. The ghost towns could be from two buildings to 40 – things died out, or there were plagues, the roads don’t lead there, whatever. Lydia Lunch
Kolkata is a great city, has great food and great people. We had some problems finding the kind of old buildings we were looking for, and even handling the crowds, but on the whole it was fun shooting there. Sanjay Dutt
For me, riding a two-wheeler bike was very risky. Counting the pedal strokes before turning a corner and learning to hear the sounds coming from buildings, grass and the climbing frame made all the difference to basic survival and ensured that I didn’t end up head-first in the sandpit. Andrea Bocelli
Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens I have seen, that I believe I have seen, that I long to see, surrounded by simple walls, columns, arcades or the facades of buildings – sheltered places of great intimacy where I want to stay for a long time. Peter Zumthor
In the traditional modernist planning that created the suburbs, you put residential buildings in suburban neighborhoods, office spaces into brain parks and retail in shopping malls. But you fail to exploit the possibility of symbiosis or synthesis that way. Bjarke Ingels
Organic buildings are the strength and lightness of the spiders’ spinning, buildings qualified by light, bred by native character to environment, married to the ground. Frank Lloyd Wright
Architecture is about public space held by buildings. Richard Rogers
Me and my mates go free running all the time. It’s not my mum’s favourite sport. I’ve probably jumped four metres on to grass and two metres between buildings. It’s nothing like you see on the Internet, with guys jumping off skyscrapers, but it’s fun. Tom Holland
Some of my best friends are architects. And they definitely do have ears. But I think sometimes they don’t use them when they’re designing buildings. Julian Treasure
I was given this beautiful coffee table book of Soviet architecture for my birthday. It has a lot of holiday camps, swimming pools, theatres, and buildings that were built for leisure activities. Incredible architecture in the most obscure places. It’s a little bit sad, because a lot of it has been left to fall apart. Roisin Murphy
I think you need to, as an architect, understand the essence of a place and create a building that feels like it resonates with the culture of a place. So my buildings in India or in Kansas City or in Arkansas or in Singapore, they come out different because the places are so different. Moshe Safdie
No stream rises higher than its source. What ever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was. He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built. Frank Lloyd Wright
I believe buildings are alive, and when you want to make a change, you have to change in the same symphony. Benedetta Tagliabue
I’d get kicked out of buildings all day long, people would rip up my business card in my face. It’s a humbling business to be in. But I knew I could sell and I knew I wanted to sell something I had created. I cut the feet out of those pantyhose and I knew I was on to something. This was it. Sara Blakely
They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse. Sitting Bull
The first thing many tourists see in Hawaii is concrete – a long dreary stretch of it through landscapes dominated by sad, cheap apartment buildings and almost entirely denuded of plant life. Hanya Yanagihara
I just want to build the best buildings. It’s not about me, it’s about the buildings, creating a space where society can gather and marvel in beauty and nature. Santiago Calatrava
Sand dunes are almost like ready-made buildings in a way. All we need to do is solidify the parts that we need to be solid, and then excavate the sand, and we have our architecture. We can either excavate it by hand, or we can have the wind excavate it for us. Magnus Larsson
So what we have tried to do in our later buildings is to try to be completely consistent, as a painter is consistent or as a sculptor is consistent. Architecture also must be very consistent. Minoru Yamasaki