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.

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?

I pushed the process forward by saying, 'We should do this, this, and this right now. Please find the budget for me to find a structural engineer, a mechanical engineer, a civil engineer, so we can do the preliminary work.

I had a dual role: designer and advocate.

PERFORMING TRIBUTE 9/11 shows the heroism of people who have chosen to respond to devastation and hatred with quiet determination and a belief that they can and will make the world a better place.

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.