Historic Preservation in a High Tech Country:
Japan - Summer 2008 

The Historic Preservation Institute at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee is again offering a summer study abroad program in Japan. The program is focused on historic preservation but will also explore current urban, building, and landscape design matters. This small group will conduct an in-depth examination of a country struggling to retain its heritage in the midst of overwhelming social and technological change.

The trip will focus on the two main urban centers in Japan – Tokyo and Osaka. Institutional assistance will be provided by universities in each city, with activities including site visits, walking tours, office visits, historic shrines, construction sites, museums, and many other cultural and social experiences.

From the beginning of the century, Japanese architecture has influenced many western architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Bruno Taut, and Walter Gropius. Its landscape architecture has long inspired park and garden designers on every continent. Currently, Japan’s modern architecture is having a striking influence on global architecture. Japanese architecture is an inherent part of Japanese culture, and even Tokyo’s most modern “hightech” enclaves draw inspiration from old Japanese design. This reality is the inspiration for our preservation focused trip.

We will visit Japan’s ancient castles and palaces, tatami-mat tea rooms and Zen gardens, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, as well as the latest shopping centers, sports facilities, residential complexes, office towers, department stores, and high-tech structures. At discussions and meetings, we will view presentation methods, fresh technologies not yet in use anywhere else, and learn about new materials and solutions to problems like space, parking, safety, and historic preservation.

We will also continue the historic preservation documentation work begun on previous trips. Our field exercise will include the final measuring, photographing, and lazer-scanning of the historic Train Station Ryokan in the village of Koya. This documentation report will be the basis for a design studio adaptive reuse project that will attempt to save this important Japanese heritage landmark from ultimate demolition.

Additional Information. Contact Matt Jarosz at mjarosz@uwm.edu