Abstract

KIRKBRIDE, Robert. Upstream / Downstream. Cuad. Cent. Estud. Diseñ. Comun., Ensayos [online]. 2015, n.53, pp.215-229. ISSN 1853-3523.

In my article for Cuaderno 48, “Veils and Velocities,” I explored relationships between decorum and identity, their relation to the human predicament of “standing out” and “fitting in,” and the capacity for ornament to convey stories across time and fuel the imagination. Plentiful or spare, ornament equips the mind to interpret narratives, cultural and personal, and close readings of our constructed environments help tune new works to contemporary and future concerns. For the current issue, I sharpen focus on a subplot introduced in “Veils and Velocities,” where I note: “while sustainable improvements often focus on downstream byproducts of production, close readings can be performed upstream in the manufacturing sequence, enhancing the wellbeing of fabricators and the poetics of a product” (Kirkbride, 2013, p. 185). This paper considers several scales and modes of upstreaming, from the tectonics of a watershed and site management, to the awareness of history and one’s own position in it, and the reconceptualization of a product by the flows of its supply chain and lifecycle. I’ll retrace the origins of this notion -a walk upstream through a troubled watershed during a torrential rainstorm- and follow its influences on several object lessons and project-based exercises at Parsons The New School for Design.

Keywords : Architecture; Product design; Infrastructure; Supply chain; Upstream; Upstreaming; Watershed; Watertables.

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