I met Lebbeus in February 1977. I arrived at Leb’s small loft in TriBeCa to find him standing bent over an enormous black and white drawing of a Piranese-like urban vision. His cigarette had a long grey ash that was about to drop as he greeted me briefly and turned to show me the amazing drawing.

Lebbeus and I began to meet every couple of weeks at a diner that served an “all-you-can-eat-for-a-dollar” bean soup. Our ongoing philosophical discussions led to our sharing reviews in the design studios that we were teaching in...[+]