As architects we are often involved in the concrete-steel-and-glass aspect of it, but cities are social structures, and to be involved in imagining the future of cities and the type of relationships and the types of places that we're making is something that intrigues me very much.

It sounds really over the top to say you're responsible for the city of New York, but I do feel responsibility to the city of New York, to this country, to people everywhere. So many people were affected by the events of September 11, and I feel this is one of the ways that that event will be understood and defined.

I built a series of supporters that had my back. I never abused that trust. You can't cry wolf. You have to solve most problems yourself.

You can just never desist. You have to always push back, whatever the pressures put on you.

I hope for the experience of people standing together, turning their backs to the city and facing this, and hearing the leaves rustle. Well, maybe it won't be as bucolic as at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but I know you will feel removed from the city.

I'm a little more measured. That sense of urgency I thought accompanied things - it can take a little longer. You have to take the long view.

For two years nobody talked about anything other than the name arrangement. There was no fund-raising and no progress being made on construction and design.