The British government — any government — is potentially the worst [architectural] client in the world.

Source: "Building the Seed Cathedral." TED2011. March 2011. Conference Presentation. Additional Information: This quote is from architectural designer Thomas Heatherwick's 2011 TED Talk about designing the extraordinary "Seed Cathedral" for the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. The quote means that the project could have gone very wrong, as the British government was the client the architects were trying to impress; Heatherwick is saying that governments could potentially be difficult clients to design buildings for, perhaps because they may have very strict demands. Watch the full TED Talk here: Thomas Heatherwick - Building the Seed Cathedral   

“Building the Seed Cathedral.” TED2011. March 2011. Conference Presentation.