- Kasuo Shinohara: For me an ordinary private residence is as essential an expression of architecture as a very large project. When I work on houses, I have an oppurtunity to analyze and learn about architecture in general
- Kasuo Shinohara: I am trying to envision a house made up of sign-like language, naked things, machines and savagery. I want to believe that this approach contains the seed of a new theory of building, but instead it may be oriented towards disintegration.
- Itsuko Hasegawa: To label my work either realist or symbolist is too simplistic. I see my architecture as truly Asian in spirit, which means that I take into consideration the complex principles governing family life, religion and many other social aspects. Everything in daily life is intertwined and my architecture reflects that.
- Toyo Ito: Japanese houses are like an empty stage in a theater. You bring in some furniture to create a scene. The furniture suggests the interaction of people on the stage set
- Fumihiko Maki: Some architects in Japan use western ornaments in a very expressive way, or in a latent way. I use some such ornaments. To me a still more important element in architecture are details and it seems that these good details give pleasure to your eyes, just as much as you get from ornamentation, So I try to stick to these modernist principals. And also it is the only way you can convey the spirit of the material we use today, like steel, glass, concrete. Without details you cannot extract the energy which resides in those materials.