■ There’s always a risk in doing the world’s tallest building because it’s never been done before. You don’t really know what the problems will be. There are surprises that will come. So you really have to understand what the forces are on these buildings and what can happen that’s different than for a normal-sized building.

■ With the Burj Khalifa, the client owned 300 acres around it. They were looking for a statement building that could become the center of gravity for their development. You see that throughout the history of tall buildings. When the Sears Tower was put up, the tallest around it in that southwest corner of the Loop was, I think, 18 stories. But the Sears Tower drew other buildings to that area.

■ After I came out against the Trump Tower sign, I got a call from Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen. He said, “The reason this is a problem is because when other people say they don’t like the sign, it’s one thing. But when you say you don’t like the sign, people take notice.” And so I said, “OK, I understand that.” And then I said, “By the way, Donald must be very happy about all the PR coming along with it.” Donald does not distinguish between good and bad PR.

■ My father died at 57 of a heart attack when I was a sophomore in college. So we never really discussed my interest in architecture. But my mother understood. She had a strong aesthetic sense about her. She was a beautiful woman, but she had a rough time. She had my older brother when she was 16, unmarried, living in a place called Watseka, Illinois, in 1925 or so. That’s a tough time for a single mother. I didn’t even know until late in high school. She kept it secret.

■ I remember when I first came into the city. I hitchhiked from Texas A&M to Missouri, then my brother, who was a lawyer there, drove me to Chicago. When you’re coming in from the southwest on Route 80, the city emerges as monolithic. At that time, in the ’60s, it was all stone, like manmade mountains. It made a very powerful impression, and I said to myself: I want to be a part of that.

■ The first major thing that I worked on at SOM was not major at all. It was the basement at the John Hancock Center, near the little reflecting pool. In those years, the late ’60s and even early ’70s, I would wander around the office in the evenings, looking at everybody’s work, seeing what’s on the drawing boards. When the Sears Tower was started in the early ’70s, I remember saying to myself: I wonder if I’ll ever have a chance to do a tall building.

■ I am a religious person. As I was driving home one day after a very depressing meeting about having to do a whole series of things to save SOM, a thought came to me. I can’t tell you word for word, but basically it was: If God’s going to take care of the little birds and all that, he’s going to take care of you. And so I just said, OK, I’ll accept that. And it relieved me of all that stress. I often pray with my wife for inspiration on projects. I know a lot of people will think that’s weird, but for me, it works.