The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace... a representation of man's belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his beliefs in the cooperation of men, and, through cooperation, his ability to find greatness.

Minoru Yamasaki

Categorized in : Peace Artist Greatness

But now I know that it is very important that all buildings should be consistent, that this is the quality of the Gothic cathedral, for instance, that we like.

Minoru Yamasaki

quality important artist

And I feel that we in our society should not be held by any such myth; that we should do everything we can to gain a delight and joy in our society with all the available parts of the palette.

Minoru Yamasaki

delight artist joy

And sometimes I'm criticized. But I think that if those who criticize us will look at the reason why the shape is this, well then, I think that they would not object so strenuously.

Minoru Yamasaki

shapes reason-why thinking

I feel this way about it. World trade means world peace and consequently the World Trade Center buildings in New York ... had a bigger purpose than just to provide room for tenants. The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace ... beyond the compelling need to make this a monument to world peace, the World Trade Center should, because of its importance, become a representation of man's belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his beliefs in the cooperation of men, and through cooperation, his ability to find greatness.

Minoru Yamasaki

greatness new-york mean

And a building must be like a human being. It must have a wholeness about it, something that is very important.

Minoru Yamasaki

building important humans

And I like the idea of change. Because I don't see why we should hang a painting on the wall and then just not think of it anymore because it's there like a piece of furniture.

Minoru Yamasaki

wall artist change

We build buildings which are terribly restless. And buildings don't go anywhere. They shouldn't be restless.

Minoru Yamasaki

restless building architecture

And exciting buildings are fine periodically.

Minoru Yamasaki

fine building artist

The purpose of architecture is to create an atmosphere in which man can live, work, and enjoy.

Minoru Yamasaki

atmosphere purpose men

I feel this is very important for us to have serene buildings because our civilization is chaotic as it is, you see; our whole machine age has brought about a chaos that has to be somehow counterbalanced, I think.

Minoru Yamasaki

artist civilization thinking

I have been criticized rather strenuously by painters and sculptors for not incorporating their work in our buildings.

Minoru Yamasaki

painter building work

If you examine this, I think that you will find that it's the mechanics of Japanese architecture that have been thought of as the direct influence upon our architecture.

Minoru Yamasaki

architecture artist thinking

The Wayne Education Building was the first classroom building that we have done on the Wayne campus.

Minoru Yamasaki

done artist education

If you have white walls, human beings look better in a room than if you have red walls.

Minoru Yamasaki

wall white looks

Japanese architecture is very much copied in this country and in Europe.

Minoru Yamasaki

architecture europe country

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

architecture artist trying

Let's talk about the Gas Company because this is my favorite job.

Minoru Yamasaki

my-favorite artist jobs

In this tour around the world I was not interested in contemporary buildings because I had seen contemporary buildings actually until they came out of my ears in a sense.

Minoru Yamasaki

artist ears world

In other words, I have no truck for anyone who goes out and does an eclectic building.

Minoru Yamasaki

eclectic-style artist doe

In other words, each piece of the building must look as though it was designed for that particular building.

Minoru Yamasaki

building pieces looks