Planes, Trains, and Black Cabs

Movement is key when studying in London. A summer studio itinerary in this city entails extensive intermodal transportation. Working alongside the Shuttleworth collection gave us a primer in the history of these modes. Living in London made us care about how they come together to shape the experience of a city and its people.
The planes:
The Shuttleworth collection is a rare space where historic aircrafts and automobiles still live and breathe, outside the typical glass box. Knowledge of their maintenance and care is passed down from a generation of incredible engineers to the next. Each object, from Edwardian canvas planes to WWII dogfighters, is preserved and maintained for constant use. We witnessed them take to the skies one more time.
The cabs:
Busy bodies, weaving through the streets. Labor, the economy, and politics is their warp, footie clubs, pints, and banter their weft. The cabbies work the fabric of London, stitching it together, but are never too busy to extend a hand or tell a story. The drivers know the city better than anyone, through world wars and redevelopment the streets have stayed the same. Perhaps this hunger for knowledge is why we were met with a curiosity and warmth, reflective of the familiar but different shared cultural history we have with the Brits. The special relationship.
The underground/overground:
While the cabbies rule the streets, below runs the blood of the city, coursing through its veins and arteries, every 2 minutes a train. Steam, diesel, and electric transport either started or was perfected in this city, and everything depends on it. Nobody can escape tube delays: if the trains are behind, so is the city. In a London where each summer is hotter than the last, everybody knows which lines are airconned, which tubes hold heat. Each line has its own character, each station tells a story of a city that grows and changes each decade. Building projects live and die by the tube, even Lord Norman Foster can’t escape what lies beneath