Matt Bridgestock figures that if he could cycle the length of Britain – which he did, in fact, at age 16 – he could probably cycle around the world. The architecture and planning graduate from the University of the West of England is about to embark on a journey to realise this long-held ambition. But, unlike most itchy-footed youths currently trotting around the globe – including, not so long ago, this writer – Bridgestock has meticulously planned his two-wheeled trip as an architecture and urban design tour, which he hopes eventually to document in a multimedia publication.
Somewhat surprisingly, however, Bridgestock’s research will not focus exclusively on the impressive architecture in the different towns and cities his ‘World on Wheels’ expedition will visit. Given the nature of the journey – taking in over 25,000 miles in 12 months – he explains, he is more interested in comparing the routes into the centre of towns and villages, from the outskirts.
The travelling time available would make it difficult to measure and create a detailed analysis of the architecture in each place, Bridgestock observes, so the idea is to document his immediate responses to small villages, and examine the relationship between travel, arrival and space.
‘It’s a mixture of two things: it’s certainly looking at places from an architecture and design point of view, but then adding another layer… which is our own personal experiences,’ continues the intrepid rider, who will be joined on several legs of the journey by fellow students, Adam Mellotte and Geoff Henry. Andrew Bridgestock will then also join his son on the final leg of the tour, across North America.
‘What we didn’t want to do was just look at city or town centres, which have an accepted urban grain, because people have been there and done that,’ the younger Bridgestock notes. ‘The time available was quite important in deciding what ideas we wanted to explore.’
Departing from Warwick on March 30, Bridgestock and Mellotte will travel through France, Switzerland, Italy, and Slovenia. From Hungary, Mellotte will then return to the UK through Poland, Russia, Scandinavia and Belgium, while Bridgestock will head east from Budapest through Moldova, Russia, Kazakhstan, China to Hong Kong. He then flies to Lima, cycling north through central America along with Henry, through Mexico and across the vast North American landscape to New York.
Bridgestock has been planning the trip over the past 18 months, developing a detailed methodology to guide his research, with assistance from the University of Strathclyde, where he will go on to study Urban Planning next year.
His fascination for different urban design environments around the world has been nurtured not only through his university degree and two-and-a-half years’ industry experience, but from personal travels through Portugal, Spain, Morocco, central Europe and, most recently, the USA. For instance, Bridgestock draws on his memories from exploring villages in the Himalayas as an example of how culture and climates can affect design.
‘There was a marked difference between the architecture of the Buddhist areas and the Hindu regions – the religious icons in their architecture, for example,’ he recalls. ‘Or, whether it was a farming community or nomadic and herding community. All of that influenced the way the towns and villages had been built up – sometimes they were tightly knit, for winter living, or more open, with summer residences.’
‘It’s things like this we are hoping to draw on, and get ideas from,’ Bridgestock envisions. He’s interested in the experiences countries like France, Germany and Switzerland will offer in terms of the quality of architectural design and arrival infrastructure, considering the affluence of these countries, but, in contrast, is looking forward to the ‘unknown’ across Eastern Europe, and even further east.
As a result of the research, Bridgestock hopes to identify possible models of best practice to compare against existing UK urban design systems. His analysis will be published on the ‘World on Wheels’ website initially, but the team are aiming to produce a multimedia report that can be used as a tool for desktop designers, as well as a student handbook.
In the meantime, Bridgestock has a mammoth journey ahead of him. And it’s not all so serious – he plans to do what all young travellers do: explore new and exciting cultures, stumble across adventures, meet and talk to different people and really, just have a blast.
Keep up to date with the World on Wheels team as they cycle around the globe via regular updates to the website, www.worldonwheels.info
