KEVIN MCCLOUD

If I welcomed people into my lovely home every week in the pages of a magazine, they'd soon see how incredibly dull it is. It's important to maintain a bit of mystique.

You cannot use the democratic process for the procurement of excellence.

Architecture was pretty much the sexiest thing to be doing from 1700-1800.

I'm really quite conscious of clothes and the way they fit and don't regret wearing anything. Not even the five-inch stack heels I wore with three-button high-waisters at comprehensive school. Regret is for wimps.

My father, an engineer, was the gentlest man I knew.

Building your own home is about desire, fantasy. But it's achievable; anyone can do it.

Every breath we take as human beings damages the planet.

I've had my fair share of colds, which last longer than they should and can cause wheezing, so I avoid people who are sneezing like the plague and am scrupulous about hygiene and hand-washing.

I cannot look at modern buildings without thinking of historical ones.

I've got lots of friends who are musicians, and there is a fair proportion of broken marriages and relationships as a result. You are on the move all the time. It's difficult if you have kids, and it's hard to make money unless you are in the premier league.

Luckily I have never missed a day's filming or work due to asthma.

When I left university, I idled around without focus for much too long.

It's possible to be satisfied with a day's work or a cake, but a life... what is a life but a history of events badly remembered?

I'm terrified of being poor, I always have been. It's growing up as a Methodist. I'll spend that bit of extra money to get a better seat on a train sometimes, because it's quieter and calmer, but I refuse to spend money on clothes.

Building design isn't trendy.

I like the absurd and the surreal: the Coen brothers, Bunuel, Kubrick.

I admire anyone that follows the road less travelled.

A friend of mine once wrote a silly article about all these metrosexuals like David Beckham wearing sarongs, and she described me as a 'heteropolitan.' I don't know what that means. I think it was a joke.

I'm terribly fastidious. I like symmetry and neatness, but my house is as chaotic as any other family's.

Every decently-made object, from a house to a lamp post to a bridge, spoon or egg cup, is not just a piece of 'stuff' but a physical embodiment of human energy, testimony to the magical ability of our species to take raw materials and turn them into things of use, value and beauty.

The thing that I champion is sustainability. My terror is that suddenly we see it as a luxury, not an essential. That's a danger.

There's no reason for your imagination to be fettered by money.

I don't want anything that I buy to have done any harm to anyone or anything.

A great deal of energy is wasted in hating people, and I can honestly say I've no wish to expend such a precious resource on being outraged about anyone.

As a property developer, I learned a long time ago to choose your battles wisely and that, unfortunately, compromise is a given.