Not many would cite a Home Depot in the Vatican building as a dream project, but it's precisely this attitude that has made Lebanese-architect Bernard Khoury known as an unpredictable visionary. For this installment of our Proust Questionnaire, the maverick talks pistachios, style, and the elegance of a pole dancer.

Who is your favorite living architect?

Anwar, the man in charge of expediting my work out of the administrative labyrinth of the Beirut Municipality

Who is your favorite dead architect?

Heroes never die

How would you describe the personality of your practice?

Voluntarily masochistic, desperately romantic, willingly suicidal

What is your practice's main weakness?

We're all too human

What is the trait that your appreciate most in a building?

The trait that cannot be reproduced

What is the trait that you deplore most in a building?

Style

What is the trait that you most appreciate in an architect?

The ability to switch weapons chronically

What is the trait that your most deplore in an architect?

His style

What is your favorite type of project to work on?

Those to which the grand masters don't give the time of day

What does architectural happiness mean?

I never ask myself this question and I never will

What does architectural misery mean?

You'll find your answers in the packed drawers of the heavy corporate firms

Where would you most like to build (where you haven't already)?

An afterhours club in Mecca or a Home Depot in the Vatican

What is your favorite color?

Pistachio green

What is your favorite flower?

Daisy

What is your favorite bird?

Fat grey urban pigeons

Who is your favorite poet?

George Brassens

Who is your favorite artist?

Bashar El Assad

When do you lie?

Only in my sleep

What talent would you most like to have?

The elegance of a pole dancer

What architectural strategies do you most overuse?

A small dose of porn

How would you like to die?

I don't want to die