Hello, friends. Thank you for welcoming Metafoundry back to your inboxes. Today’s missive is mostly about some things that I’ve been up to since you last heard from me.

One. My book How Infrastructure Works came out just over two years ago (!), and there’s now a UK paperback edition with a fun new cover. It’s been delightful to see how the book and the ideas in it continue to resonate — not a week goes by that I don’t hear from someone about how much it means to them. I was recently listening to Annalee Newitz discussing their short and charming novel Automatic Noodle on KQED Forum with Alexis Madrigal, who asked what book from today we might hope to find on a shelf in the far future. Annalee’s immediate response — that How Infrastructure Works was a book that would help us find our way there — left me as fully ‘smiling-face-holding-back-tears’-emoji-faced as you might imagine. Thanks to Annalee, Alexis, and everyone else who’s read and shared it.¹

Two. Many readers likely know that I was among the earliest faculty of Olin College of Engineering, and an important theme of my professional life has been undergraduate engineering education, especially in design. This past spring I made the decision to take a leave of absence from this role through August 2026, primarily so I could have the space and time to continue to develop and share the ideas in How Infrastructure Works and to begin pulling together some new thoughts on the interplay between abstraction and materiality. (So far, that’s included thinking about how people describe what touching sharks feels like, the joys of tangible interfaces, and YInMn blue. Expect to see a lot more in this space in the next while.)

Three. Going on leave precipitated a decision to relocate for the duration, and this past summer I moved my household² from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Vancouver, British Columbia. I’m enjoying exploring my new surroundings and getting to know the people around me. Thanks to the good offices of Prof. Hisham Zerriffi at the University of British Columbia, I have a courtesy appointment in the Faculty of Forestry and new colleagues across the campus. Veda Hille welcomed me to the East Vancouver arts community with an invitation to join her and Maiko Yamamoto as a friendly consulting scientist on their new piece for Theatre Replacement, End of Greatness, which will premiere in April,³ and last weekend I got to speak at the inaugural Cabbage and the City event at Russian Hall, talking infrastructure while participants made cabbage rolls. I think it’s safe to say I’m finding my people.

Next. I was honoured to find myself on Vox’s 2024 Future Perfect 50 list, alongside many folks that I admire; I’m in their “Imagining the Future” section (and I talked about some of these ideas recently as a guest on Imaginize World). As well as my own projects, being on leave means I have some capacity for collaborations, whether that’s facilitating workshops and events, written pieces, speaking engagements, or — maybe something altogether different? Please reach out if you’d like to work together.

So a lot has happened of late! But everything I’ve described in this update feels less like a ‘next step’ and more of an…extended liminal period, maybe? I’m extraordinarily fortunate to have this opportunity to explore new possibilities, and I look forward to sharing what I find with you.