TR How has the practice of architecture changed during your lifetime? What was it to you when you first started, how do you see it now, and how do you see its future?

ÁS I do not see a good future for architecture. The decisions coming from the European Union and accepted by the member countries and the Association of Architects – to which I see no reaction – are developing wild competition and no possibilities to improve quality. Architects are losing their roles in the needed interdisciplinarity. 

TR You have been described as one of the great modernists, yet you have also said, “Tradition is important when it contains moments of change.” What is your relationship to modernism(s) versus tradition, and the heritage of buildings and architecture?

ÁS Tradition – history – is and has been fundamental for innovation, as [modernist group founded by Le Corbusier in 1928] CIAM quickly considered.

TR People have often commented on the humanity, or personality, of your buildings. What has been your relationship with the expressive qualities of your work?

ÁS Humanity and personality, as you say, are results of the attention paid to and dialogue with architecture’s users in societies and between themselves.

TR The generation that followed in your wake have been described as “starchitects”, encapsulating a sense of a “great man” theory of architecture that prioritises visionary, top-down design. More recently a younger generation of architects have reacted against this by prioritising community-oriented design. How do you see your work and your legacy in relation to this tension and what is the importance of community in your work?

ÁS I do not care for “star architects”. I am interested in architects who promote quality, working with their dreams and with communities, extroverted or contained according to circumstances. The importance of community mustn’t be opposed to architects’ convictions. Dialogue is the answer.

TR  Some have used the term “critical regionalism” when speaking of your work. What do you think about architecture’s potential as an international idiom in relation to local identity and the transformation wrought by globalisation in recent decades? 

ÁS The term “critical regionalism” was created by Kenneth Frampton and has been frequently misunderstood and distorted. Frampton – and others – were not limited by the idea of cultural centres versus peripheries. He visited and studied the rich contribution of what was considered the “poor periphery”. The idea of an international idiom of architecture in opposition to local expression is not right. Japan influenced Frank Lloyd Wright just as Wright and his American and European influences contributed to Japanese architecture. .