Santiago Calatrava's designs command our attention. New York City's Oculus , Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Tomorrow , Milwaukee's Art Museum, the Constitution Bridge in Venice, Hemisfèric in Valencia, and so on. Each of these buildings forces you to pause—in other words, it asks you to look at the world, if not your immediate surroundings, just a bit differently.

Below, AD asks Santiago Calatrava questions from and inspired by the Proust Questionnaire. The original game was popularized by the French novelist Marcel Proust (1871–1922), who believed that in answering these probing questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.

Santiago Calatrava in Venice, where the Spanish-born architect designed the Constitution Bridge.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? There is a German term: genügsamkeit, which means something like un-demandingness.

What is your idea of absolute misery? Injustice.

What is your greatest fear? Injustice.

Which living person do you most admire? Pope Francis.

L'Hemisfèric in Valencia, Spain, opened in 1998.

What is your current state of mind? Calm and hopeful.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Do you understand what I mean?”

What do you most value in your friends? Fidelity.

Which talent would you most like to have? Eloquence.

Who is your favorite writer? Antonio Machado and Gabriel García Márquez.

The Oculus, which is meant to evoke a phoenix rising from the ashes, is located mere feet from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in downtown Manhattan. The structure connects 11 subway lines and countless retail and office spaces.

Who is your favorite architect who has passed? Francesco Borromini.

Who is a modern architect you particularly admire? I.M.Pei .

What’s your favorite building that’s not your own design? Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Where in the world would you most like to live? Engadine, Switzerland.

What’s your greatest regret? Not having dedicated my entire life to arts.

Gare do Oriente, an airport in Lisbon, Portugal, was designed by Calatrava in 1995.

What’s your motto? Philanthropy first.

Who is your favorite painter, living or deceased? Picasso and Caravaggio.

If you could be any person in history, who would you choose to be? Socrates.

What’s your most treasured possession? A painting from [16th-century Italian painter] Jacopo Bassano.

Which location has been your favorite to vacation? The Alps.

How would you like to die? In peace.