Jara McLarren first saw the connection between housing and health as an undergrad student studying Spanish literature, well before her first architecture classes.
While working as a translator for a Spanish-speaking healthcare clinic in St. Louis, she was drawn to an immersion program in Guatemala. While abroad, she observed that someone’s ZIP code could cause their health to either flourish or decline.
“It was the first time I was introduced to that framework,” said McLarren, now an architecture graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “That where you live, work and play all have the ability to impact your health in some way, shape or form.”
That epiphany was a spark. It quietly transformed her entire educational path, leading her through the field of public health, medical school and now her studies at UWM. That spark has even rippled through neighborhoods in Milwaukee, as McLarren and her husband design and renovate houses — all with a focus on improving the health of their residents.
Researching the lived environment
While exploring the link between the environment and health, McLarren earned her master’s in public health at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She studied how physical architecture can influence people’s health and safety. For example, research on the negative impact of urbanization on groundwater and flooding. Other studies show that streetlights and other structures can improve the perception of safety on campus.
McLarren knew her research could make a difference but still wanted to affect people’s health more directly. That’s when she enrolled in medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
While in medical school, in 2020, McLarren moved to Milwaukee with her husband, when the pair started designing and renovating houses. While she juggled the demands of medical school, remodeling homes was a respite, but never something McLarren seriously considered for a career.
As school became more demanding, McLarren had to start sacrificing time spent on renovation projects. That’s when it hit her. “Maybe I can impact the built environment and aspects of health another way,” she thought. “And that is how architecture came into the picture.”
In 2024, she made the difficult decision to drop out of medical school to pursue what her heart really wanted: to design spaces and homes with wellness and health at the forefront.
A newfound passion and catalyst
For McLarren, pivoting from a medical career wasn’t always easy. She adopted the concept of metamorphosis to talk about her journey, explaining that it isn’t a simple process – caterpillars nearly dissolve themselves to become butterflies.
“I see a parallel between that transformation and what happened in my life,” McLarren said. “I was on this very specific path and had a very specific destination and I had never imagined anything different, until I had these experiences late in life.”
She started her architecture master’s program at UWM in the fall of 2025. As she worked on projects and participated in a studio class, she realized she made the right decision. From designing a proposed polling place on the Beerline Trail to an avant garde high-rise, McLarren experienced creative fulfillment like never before.
Even with her studies, McLarren is still finding time to renovate homes around Milwaukee. Her home designs mirror her academic interests: hospitality, health and wellness.
One house she worked on in early 2026 is a calming oasis of muted olive-green siding and an enticing, burnt-orange front door. Those choices create a woodsy effect, blending in with the natural surroundings of southeastern Wisconsin.
“We always try to choose colors that are inspired by nature that hopefully provoke calmness and respite,” McLarren said. “We always try to choose colors that are inspired by nature, that hopefully provoke calmness and respite.”
Designing for health
The homes that McLarren and her husband design aren’t just for improving emotional wellbeing. She noted that water-logged basements are one of the most common health hazards in the area – something she studied in her public health days. As a result, she and her husband have dug out basement floors and installed drain tiles to combat moisture and potentially hazardous mold. They’ve also provided mold remediation and sanitation services after severe floods in the summer of 2025 damaged countless homes around Milwaukee.
Ultimately, McLarren hopes to use her degree in either hospitality or residential design. “I feel like there’s this huge push in both for health-focused spaces,” she said. “We’re talking in-home saunas, wellness resorts and wellness retreats.”
For now, she’s content to continue exploring her passions. “I’m thriving, and it’s a true expression of who I am,” she added. “My creativity is being unleashed in ways that I always wanted.”
