Here's from his bio page:
http://www.wtcsitememorial.org/fin7_bio.html Michael Arad, New York, NY
Statement
Illustrations & Models
Biography/Credits
Animation
Original Submission
Michael Arad
Michael Arad grew up in Israel, the United States and Mexico. He has been living in the U.S. since finishing his military service in the Israeli Defense Force in 1991. He received a BA from Dartmouth College, and a MA from Georgia Tech's College of Architecture. He moved to New York City in 1999 and worked as an architect at Kohn Pedersen Fox for three years. He recently joined the Design Department of the New York City Housing Authority and has been working on the design development of two police stations for the New York City Police Department. He lives in the East Village in New York City with his wife, Melanie Arad Fitzpatrick, and his newborn son, Nathaniel.
Actually a friend of mine from NYC went to high school with this designer. I believe he is the son of an Israeli/US diplomat but I will confirm.
Young guy, 34 tops.