While infrastructure is a prerequisite for any modern notion of "civilization," we rarely notice how much we depend on it. Perhaps the fact that we only interact with its interfaces makes it go unnoticed, to the point that we only remember its existence when it fails or when, at the end of the month, we have to pay the bill.
This invisibility makes it difficult to address from an architectural perspective. Perhaps as a way to "architecturalize" it, Keller Easterling refers to it as "matrix space"; this highlights that, even when intangible, infrastructure is indeed located in space and, as a matrix, always operates in interconnection with others. In that space between unquestioned use and management lies a space for critique that can be occupied by architecture. The projects, essays, and research in this issue of ARQ are situated there, and from that position, their contribution consists of expanding that space.
