She has written extensively on how architecture is shaped by cultural demands, most recently in her book Conflicted Identities: Housing and the Politics of Cultural Representation, which examines how architecture and space can express divergent identities in any given cultural context. She received a B.A. from Barnard College in New York, her Dip.-Ing. (Arch.) from the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, and her Ph.D. from the Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus, Germany.