For 12 years, Matt Jarosz has been taking School of Architecture & Urban Planning students to Japan – typically a dozen master’s students – to explore the country’s heritage and examine the “challenging matter of historic preservation of great landmark places.”
Highlights of the month-long visit include study of technical aspects of building construction, documentation of historic buildings slated for demolition, a review of transportation infrastructure and academic collaborations with Japanese universities.
The trip is such a unique offering among American architecture schools, Jarosz said, that a handful of students from Harvard, Pratt, Parsons and other universities join UW-Milwaukee architecture and urban planning students for the late-spring trip.
“As our architectural profession becomes more and more globalized,” said Jarosz, “it becomes clear that international collaborations with countries from Asia are essential.”
On Sept. 6, students and faculty from the Osaka Institute of Technology reciprocated with a visit to the School of Architecture & Urban Planning at UWM, making a brief Milwaukee stop before heading to Chicago and Los Angeles. Undergraduates from the Japanese partner university toured the school, learned about its highly ranked graduate programs and attended a talk by Jarosz, a professor of architecture and director of the school’s Historic Preservation Institute.
After the school visit, the Osaka students visited the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Public Market and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Frederick C. Bogk House, among other stops.
“This encounter represents a fabulous exchange between two great universities and will help facilitate cross-cultural education,” Jarosz said. “And, it advances the possibilities for our and their students to continue their studies, at the graduate level, in a foreign country.”
