I had a dual role: designer and advocate.

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

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 love New York, but I'd felt like an outsider here.

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 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.