I really appreciate artists of the 20th century, and I can see a lot of their influence on my work, but to suggest that my design only fits within an 'ism' kind of bothers me.

I had a dual role: designer and advocate.

When I was in the Army, the unit I served in, you could never stop. It was a volunteer unit, and there was a fairly high rate of attrition. The people who stayed through are the people who were either great at it or the people who just didn't know how to stop. And I fell into that second category.

New York was a place I wanted to live and work all along. If I wasn't going to live in Israel, I had to live in New York.

I believe that people are fundamentally are decent. And, yes, you will have people that sometimes will misbehave.

I really appreciate artists of the 20th century, and I can see a lot of their influence on my work, but to suggest that my design only fits within an 'ism' kind of bothers me.

How do you design it so that people can form a space of their own, and feel quiet and contemplative?