In selecting the ten architects to participate in the charette, the Museum relied on three fundamental goals for its building program:

1. A Great Museum—The architect selected for the new Museum of Modern Art must not only be a great designer; he or she must also demonstrate a sensitivity to the history and culture of this institution. A successful design will be one that allows us to show the best of contemporary and modern art in the most compelling way, one that will facilitate and dignify the work of a very diverse professional staff and one that makes judicious use of the Museum's resources (financial and otherwise), both in terms of its initial construction and subsequent operation.
   
   
2. Architectural Excellence—For over sixty years The Museum of Modern Art has championed excellence in modern design, setting standards that have raised the quality of architecture in this city, in this country, and beyond. The Museum of Modern Art's new building should be recognized as a great achievement in architectural design.
   
   
3. Strategic Leadership—To realize the vision of a new Museum of Modern Art, the architect selected must bring dynamic and thoughtful leadership to the design process. This ability should be seen as more critical than any other criteria, whether it be celebrity status, nationality, age, or, even, past experience in designing museums.
   
   
   

The following questions were of particular interest to the Museum and were included, along with various functional requirements, in the charette program:

1. The urban conditions which influenced the Goodwin and Stone design have changed drastically since 1939. What are the most critical new urban conditions in the immediate area? How can the current assemblage of buildings and spaces be rethought in light of these changed urban circumstances?
   
   
2. The essence of the Goodwin and Stone parti was the interrelationship between the Museum building and the garden. The addition of the Dorset Hotel site extends the Museum's ground plan far to the west and suggests that the garden will no longer be the central experience that it once was. What new design concepts might guarantee as coherent an experience as that of the Goodwin and Stone parti?
   
   
3. The Museum has been characterized as a place of many places: art galleries, sculpture garden, film theater, library, restaurant, etc. How can the arrangement of the public spaces address the mission of the Museum? How can these arrangements reflect the changing uses of the Museum throughout the day and evening?
   
   
4. The Museum is a place where nearly 500 people work each day. How can the work spaces be made more dignified? What planning strategies can be used to make these spaces feel more integrated with the above-grade public spaces?
   
   
5. A large part of the unique character of The Museum of Modern Art is derived from its midtown Manhattan location, perhaps most obviously its verticality. Part of the paradox of Manhattan is the recognition that the vitality of its culture is maintained within a rigid series of zoning and building codes. Accepting the New York City Zoning Resolution as a given, in what ways can the new Museum of Modern Art express this paradoxical situation? How can the opposing desires for controlled interior spaces on one hand, and daylight and open views on the other, be balanced?
   
   
6. The Museum of Modern Art can be said to be the work of various architects: Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone, Philip Johnson, Cesar Pelli, and others. The tendency has been to make the interior experience a seamless one so as to maximize the continuity between old and new spaces. What are the drawbacks of the seamless interior experience? Is it possible or advisable to maintain distinctly different environments within a single institution? Is it possible or advisable that some of the Museum's new spaces could be distinct environments involving more than one architect?