In Fall 1998, first-year students were given a set of four problems, which alternated between questions about ordering and observations about "life" or program in a general sense.

Problem I: Make a number of identical things (at least fifty, preferably 200). Arrange them in your studio without following a rule. Analyze the arrangement after the fact; derive an objective rule which would allow someone to generate similar arrangements. (example: Greg Vendena, Jonathan Disbrow)

Problem II: Choose a painting by Bruegel. Analyze it in a manner similar to your analysis of Problem I.

Problem III: Construct a chamber within your studio space; construct an antechamber. (example: Scott Richie)

Problem IV: Represent the space described in the Iliad 18.474-616 (what Hephaestus forges on the shield of Achilles).

(For more discussion about this line of investigation, see Peter Lynch's Tokyo Lecture.)

In Fall 1997, incoming students were asked questions about the "elemental" nature of architecture. Is an architectural "element," by definition, historical, nameable, typological? Is it possible to conceive of an architecture without such elements? In a minor way, these questions helped the current second-year students frame their ongoing degree-project work.