He obtained a master of architecture degree, attending the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University in New York.[2] This was an attempt, he explained, "to get closer to my dad."[3] During his final semester there, he took an elective playwriting course and was hooked on it after winning a competition run by the Columbia Dramatists.[2] He wrote a 10-minute scene, drawing on his experience at Columbia presenting a design to a jury of critics, which involved three ego-driven architects and one student.