Aidan DeLuca
23-year old Aidan DeLuca is a recently graduated architectural designer from Philadelphia with a deep passion for urban design. His biggest hope is to use his career to bring safety, comfort, health, and equity to the cities in which he designs. He also enjoys listening to music from around the world and learning new languages. Additionally, he loves to illustrate the cities he visits in what he calls a “synthesis of urban sketching and photography”.
With the OWHC Young Travelling Scholarship, Aidan plans to first travel through Central Europe, visiting Brussels and Berlin, before returning to his hometown of Philadelphia to compare his findings. His main focuses are public health, safety and amenities of the cities and as an aspiring architect, he hopes to implement what he learns into his future work.
Travel Route:
Brussels – Berlin – Philadelphia
Social Media:
Instagram: @aidan_james_deluca
Elizabeth Paikoff and Kate Wishewan
Elizabeth:
Elizabeth Paikoff is a 24-year old Engineer-in-Training from Canada who works in the heritage conservation field. She holds an undergraduate in Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering from Carleton University and is currently working as a Structural Restoration Engineer-In-Training at Heritage Standing Inc. in Fredericton, New Brunswick. With the travels, she is hoping to expand her knowledge about heritage and gaining a new experience that will help her achieve a broader perspective in her career.
Kate:
Kate Wishewan is a 24-year-old Canadian academic professional in the heritage conservation field. She holds an undergraduate in Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering at Carleton University and is currently completing an advanced masters in Structural Analysis and Historical Constructions at the Polytechnical University of Canada. Kate is eager to show new perspectives concerning heritage values and shedding light on the passion and care it takes to sustain world heritage sites.
Both Elizabeth and Kate are excited for their travels as they can’t wait to experience the culturally rich Northwestern European heritage cities of the OWHC. Although both of them have a special interest in architecture, they also want to learn more about the invaluable history World Heritage sites hold, documenting all that they have seen with photos and descriptions in the process.
Travel Route:
Brugge – Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin
Laura Jane Hegarty and Benjamin Thom
Laura:
Laura is a 24-year-old artist living in Edinburgh. She holds a masters degree in History of Art with a special interest in feminist studies. Right now, she investigates the “uniting, shared capacities of the human sensory system”, as she is taking time away from academia to do research through travelling, before pursuing her PhD in 2025. An avid visual artist, Laura’s pieces has been exhibited in various galleries throughout Europe. Aside from her artistic ventures, she is also the Creative Director for a small distillery in Scotland and restores traditional Scottish instruments in her free time.
Benjamin:
Benjamin is a 23-year-old Scottish musician and embodies the vibrant cultural tapestry of his country by performing traditional Scottish folk music. Having studied Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, Benjamin’s interest in heritage shows through being the head of “Nuin Chanter”, a radio show dedicated to the old songs of his country. He is especially interested in the ways in which language, music, and literature influence cultural identity.
While working together in a whisky and folk music bar, Laura and Benjamin often found themselves discussing the rich history of their surroundings. This intrigue of heritage is what now brings them together to explore their interests through travel. Starting in Barcelona, the two will make a journey north towards Berlin to explore both the visual and acoustic components of what they see and hear, with each of them documenting it with their respective expertise.
Travel Route:
Barcelona – Tarragona – Carcassonne – Fontainebleau – Luxembourg – Berlin
Social Media:
Instagram Laura: @laurajhegarty
Lukas Unterreitmeier
Regensburg local Lukas Unterreitmeier is a student in the architecture master’s program at the University of Applied Sciences Regensburg. Having started his own photography business at only 18 years of age, Lukas is fascinated with understanding the rich and diverse architecture of the world around him. With his photography, he is looking to capturing special moments for eternity.
During his travels through Central and Northern Europe and the East Coast of the US, Lukas is interested in exploring the World Heritage Cities as they offer a contrast between historical structures and modern architecture. Additionally, this diversity that these cities offer is what draws him towards them. Through his signature style of capturing moments – analog photography – Lukas will document his travels and truly depict the essence of each of his destinations.
Travel Route:
Porto – Amsterdam – Stockholm – Visby – Philadelphia – New York City
Social Media:
Instagram: @lu.unxx
Martha Skyrianou
Having just completed her master studies in Sustainable Heritage Management from Aarhus University, 26-year-old Martha Skyrianou from Denmark sees this project as an amazing continuation of getting more insights within the heritage world and enriching her professional experience. Through the skills she learned being employed as a Cultural Project Manager at the Industrial Museum of Lavrion, she is hoping that the travels will give her an even broader perspective on her subject.
Her selected sites all throughout Scandinavia are not only testimonies of the past but also integral parts of our contemporary cultural identity. Therefore, in this journey one of her goals will be to explore this connection between the sites and the local communities capturing it in a creative diary.
Travel Route:
Bryggens – Stockholm – Rauma – Visby
Social Media:
Instagram: @marthaskyr
Lukas Heckl und Nikolaus Kreuzer
Lukas:
Regensburg native Lukas Heckl is 27 years old and an industrial designer nearing the end of his bachelor’s degree. He is an educated draftsman who is proficient in sketching. Additionally, he likes to experiment with technical problems and likes to find unusual solutions.
Nik:
27-year-old Nikolaus Kreuzer, also known as Nik, is from Regensburg and finished his bachelor’s degree in industrial design in 2023. Currently, he is employed as a social worker in a local school. Nik is also a trained carpenter and a photographer who submits his works to local newspapers.
Apart from their studies, what connects Lukas and Nik is their love of bicycles, as they enjoy the sustainability and the interactivity of this way of travelling, like for instance being invited to people’s homes spontaneously. They will explore Central Europe by bike and pay close attention to how heritage affects local habits and interactions, capturing them in portraits, and always comparing what they find with what is customary in their hometown of Regensburg.
Travel Route:
Strasbourg – Nancy – Luxembourg – Brussels – Brugge
Social Media:
Instagram: @heritage_by_bike
Salome Limberger
Salome Limberger, 25, is studying for a Master’s degree in Intercultural Management. She is interested in other countries and likes to explore and understand other cultural ways of thinking and acting.
Salome will go on a journey through Flemish Belgium and the Netherlands because she wants to discover the history, culture and socio-cultural significance of beguinages. She wants to find out how far beguinages as historical places can be adaptable models for future housing projects. At the beguinages Salome will visit, she wants to talk to other visitors and interview them, for example about what World Heritage means to them. Through this intercultural exchange, she would like to elaborate different perspectives on our World Heritage.
Travel Route:
Leuven – Mechelen – Dendermonde – Gent – Brugge – Antwerpen – Amsterdam – Purmerend