Educated in the Department of Architecture of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and McGili University in Montreal, he was involved in many textual works. He wrote Omah: Membaca Makna Rumah Jawa and translated Nancy K. Florida`s Writing the Past Inscribing the Future and Benedict R.O`G. Anderson`s Language and Power and Mythology and Tolerance of the Javanese. Currently, he is a faculty member of the Department of Architecture of the Islamic University of Indonesia, chairing it in 2001-2006, and also the chairperson for the Conservation Section of Yogyakarta Cultural Council. As an architect he has worked for some conservation projects in Yogyakarta, including those in Kotagede.