- There is so much wicker in the pavilion that you can hardly describe it as a detail, can you? "You can, but it's a detail that has come to determine everything. The same happened with our design for an exhibition in Il Vittoriano in Rome, a huge, pompous building that was built around the end of the 19th century to celebrate the unification of Italy. The purpose of the exhibition was to explain Italy to the Italians. We started with a basic question: how do we want to build it? We had limited time, so wood was an appropriate material. This led to the idea of a scaffolding, of something not yet finished. We used steel as well as wood, so the impression of being under construction came together with durability. That could be interpreted as a metaphor: Italy is not yet 'finished', like any other country. But I must say I don’t like the feeling of things being finished in general. I prefer the idea that everything is a process, that everything is developing. Of course, this is even more true for something temporary like an exhibition."

- If everything is a process and in essence unfinished, why do you want to emphasize it in your architecture? You might just as well go for contrast, and strive for an architecture of perfection and accomplishment. "It's a bit like the romanticism of the 17th century, when the vogue for ruins began. A ruin connects us with the past and at the same time holds out the possibility of regrowing, of being in the middle of a process and becoming a building. These days, we are open to the idea of leaving something unfinished; we accept it much more readily, and we even express it in clothing, like jeans with rips and holes. For the design of the exhibition, we were also aware that people enjoy a feeling of discovery. It is like entering an artist's studio and seeing the artist's work, not as an organized presentation but as work in progress. You are sneaking into a space that is actually not prepared for your visit. I find that much more interesting."

- Details are often changed by a building contractor during the building process. It's all too easy. How do you keep control over the details? "If you suspect that the contractors won't ask you about details during construction, you should design as many details as possible beforehand. Of course, you cannot design everything in advance and many decisions have to be made on site. There is no guarantee that the contractors won't come up with a plastic piece instead of a ceramic one. I see it as a learning process. If they use plastic instead of ceramic, you can ask yourself whether you should work with printed plastic next time, but in a different, honest way. To us, it is always interesting to learn how others work. Sometimes we accept it and sometimes we don’t."

- Details can be subservient to the whole, or they can tell a contrasting story, possibly even contradicting the overall architectural concept. In which way do you deal with details? "First of all we try to design a building that relates in an honest way to the material that is used to build it. For a church in the city of Ferrara, we wanted to build a wooden roof. Wood is sustainable because you can replant trees while using it. But a wooden roof turned out to be too expensive, so the client decided to have a concrete structure and they asked us to cover it with wood. We didn’t want that because concrete can itself be beautiful, so we used wood for insulation but at the same time we kept the concrete visible. This is what we call honesty: we want to expose the reality of things. There is even an elegance to it. After all, you don't make your face disappear when putting on make-up, because you intend to help it, not to hide it."