Pedro Reyes Quotes

I would say that many architects are very logical. They start their process from analysis and from rational processes to try and find the 'right' answer, like solving a mathematic equation.

Design is a response to a specific problem. You are given a problem to solve, and then you let the problem itself tell you what your solution is.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

At Stanford, we teach 'design thinking' - that is, we put together small, interdisciplinary groups to figure out what the true needs are and then to apply the art of engineering to serve them.

I like working intensely, then going away and thinking about it, working out why it didn't work and then coming back to it. It makes the work richer, I think.

A good engineer thinks in reverse and asks himself about the stylistic consequences of the components and systems he proposes.

As an engineer I'm constantly spotting problems and plotting how to solve them.

Action is typical of the American style, thought and planning are not; it is considered heresy to state that some problems are not immediately or easily solvable.

Health care is a design problem. Dependence on foreign oil is a design problem. To some extent, poverty is a design problem. We need design thinkers to solve those problems, and most people who are in positions of political power are not design thinkers, to put it mildly.

I try to be a positive person, but I'm also always looking and wondering, 'Maybe this could be done differently.' As soon as your mind is in a critical mode, you're halfway through designing; as soon as you start thinking about whether something could be better, you're already halfway through a solution.

One of the biggest challenges we have, as business owners and people, is that we think in linear terms.

Every movie presents unusual challenges, and I like solving the problems with a combination of artwork and engineering.

Eighty percent of my job is to ask the question, 'If this were real, what would it look like?'

I apply the term 'creativity' broadly... it's problem solving. We are all faced with problems, and we have to address them and think of something new, and that's where creativity comes in.

I give people ideas on how to solve intractable problems.

I see myself as a problem solver, creating solutions.

We must look within ourselves, become responsible and provide fresh solutions if we ever want to do more than complain,or make excuses.

Design is a solution to a problem. Art is a question to a problem.

What I love about design is the artistic and scientific complexity that also becomes useful . . . Great designers also pursue a mission. Great designers design with mankind in mind . . . The crossroads of science and art, innovation and inspiration are what I love about design.

The design is done when the problem goes away.

I am enthusiastic over humanity’s extraordinary and sometimes very timely ingenuity. If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat that comes along makes a fortuitous life preserver. But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think that we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contrivings as constituting the only means for solving a given problem.

So that is the design process or the creative process. Start with a problem, forget the problem, the problem reveals itself or the solution reveals itself and then you reevaulate it. This is what you are doing all the time.

I like talking to engineers best. They built bridges, they're very precise, very disciplined, yet I find they have roving minds.

We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place.

I do feel that the world is entering into a period of the incredible period of reflection and introspection. A lot of people are questioning the future, and I can't help but think that's a positive thing. I'm not sure about the art world, but the design world may be able to offer some solutions. Design is about troubleshooting. As a designer, I ultimately feel like a gun for hire. Companies hire me because they've got a problem. That's kind of what it boils down to. And I think this is a moment in our history where we need different solutions.