Michael Arad

"When I started this project, I was a young architect. I was very apprehensive about any changes to the design. Whether I wanted to or not, I learned that you can accept some changes to its form without compromising its intent. But it's a leap of faith that I didn't want to make initially - to put it mildly."

"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."

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

"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."

"When I started this project, I was a young architect. I was very apprehensive about any changes to the design. Whether I wanted to or not, I learned that you can accept some changes to its form without compromising its intent. But it's a leap of faith that I didn't want to make initially - to put it mildly."

"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."