We're now about a month past the UK's historic 'Brexit' vote to leave the European Union, and, well, lots has happened. David Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister, and was replaced two weeks ago by fellow Conservative, Theresa May. The economy has drastically slowed down as the value of the pound against the dollar dipped to historic lows, and while there's plenty of gloomy prospects, there are even more unknowns.

To check in on how UK architecture is getting on, and it's sights for a post-EU future, we are joined by architects Rob Hyde (principal lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture), Katy Marks (founder of Citizens Design Bureau), and Mark Middleton (partner at Grimshaw in London).

While the separation from the EU could be severe for UK architects—in particular its threat to the EU's "free movement" that entitles its members to live and work in any of its constituent countries—our guests were cautiously optimistic. Paraphrasing Katy Marks, architects are the ones who listen, respond to and ultimately shape the debate around the built environment, giving them a valuable spot in the fray.

If you're an architect in the UK, or have been affected by Brexit in any way, we want to hear from you! Take our anonymous survey; we'll publish a report on the results in the near future.

When Indianapolis began demolishing its RCA Dome in 2008, Michael Bricker saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To save the stadium's white, Teflon-coated fiberglass roof from the landfill, Bricker salvaged 13 acres of it, and turned it into shade structures for the city, as well as locally-designed accessories. With this project, People for Urban Progress was born.

Bricker is the Founder and Executive Director of People for Urban Progress, aka PUP, based in Indianapolis. The non-profit is focused on diverting building materials from wasting away in landfills, and repurposing it for local improvements. Trained as an architect and also working as a production designer, Bricker has gone on with PUP to turn old stadium seats into bus stops, and fabric from Superbowl XLVI into handbags. Sessions' own Donna Sink is a board member at PUP, and Bricker joined us on the podcast to discuss the organization's goals and design ethos.

As a bonus for Sessions listeners, get 15% off anything in PUP's store by entering "archinect" as the coupon code at checkout.

This week on the podcast, Julia Ingalls joins us to discuss the byzantine considerations behind how architects charge for work, and shares some helpful guidelines from her recent piece about how residential architecture fee rates are determined.

We also dip into the recent $3M lawsuit against Architecture for Humanity for allegedly misusing restricted funds. After suddenly going bankrupt last year, many of AFH's volunteer cells have continued operating, and an offshoot organization, Open Architecture Collaborative, officially launched this past March. The lawsuit against AFH's founders could shed light into why the lauded nonprofit seemed to shutter so suddenly.

This episode of Archinect Sessions is sponsored by AIA Advantage Partner, BQE Software, and the makers of ArchiOffice. ArchiOffice is the only Office and Project Management Software built with the needs of architects in mind. It will help you manage people and projects, while you focus on designing great architecture. Our podcast listeners can get a fully functional 15-day trial of ArchiOffice at www.bqe.com/Archinect.

Wrapping up our special editorial theme for June 2016, Privacy, Archinect writers Julia Ingalls and Nicholas Korody join us on the podcast this week to discuss two of their recent features—Julia's piece on banking security with input from a reformed robber, and Nicholas' interview with the architecture firm that moonlights as a government whistleblower, posting hundreds of secret documents online.

Last Thursday, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, with a margin of 52% to 48%. The result was a huge surprise—especially for those in creative industries like architecture, many of whom publicly supported the Remain campaign. While no official exit strategy is yet in place, within hours of the 'Brexit' vote becoming clear, the British pound dropped 10% in value against the US dollar (the lowest it's been since the 1980s). Prime Minister David Cameron resigned shortly after, and many British architects are wondering what the hell will happen now.

Speaking from his position as Principal Lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture, Rob Hyde joined us on the podcast this week to talk about the mood in the UK post-Brexit, and how architects are carrying on.

In light of the recent killing of 49 people at Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando known to many as a center for Queer and Latinx culture, our focus for this week’s podcast is the role and significance of queer spaces in creating community and culture.

We wanted to use this time to encourage constructive discussion of why recognizing, and preserving (in some way), these 'third spaces' is so important. Not just for those who identify as queer or the Latinx community, but for creating diverse, welcoming urban spaces for all.

We’re joined by two guests, Susan Surface: a queer designer, curator, organizer, and the program director at Design in Public in Seattle, and James Rojas: an urban planner trained at MIT and specializing in cultural landscapes, who has written extensively about Latino urbanism.

This week, we’re taking a moment to catch-up with what’s happened on Archinect lately, and share some endorsements—we discuss our latest interview with Snøhetta, our ongoing coverage of the Venice Biennale, student work on refugee camps, and more.

Next week, in light of the shooting death of 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, we plan to discuss the significance of accessible queer spaces, for all members of a city community.

This year's winning Serpentine Pavilion, designed by BIG, came with an architectural posse—for the first time in the Serpentine Pavilion's history, the annual competition also featured four "Summer Houses" designed by other international architects. The pavilion and summer houses open to the public tomorrow on the Serpentine Galleries' lawn in London's Royal Kensington Gardens, and we discuss our initial take on their at once surprising and familiar elements.

Get briefed on the pavilion and the summer houses with Robert Urquhart's coverage here.

Andrea Dietz spent four days in Venice reporting on the Biennale's opening for us, and brought back her reflections on the hallowed event—in all its chaotic, problematic, inspiring, messy glory—to discuss with us on the podcast. Amidst the fray, one thing came out clearly: the map is not the territory.

Donna, Ken and Fred all converged in the meatspace that was the AIA National Convention last week in Philadelphia – to explore the massive Expo floor, visit local architecture, vote on resolutions and oh yes, those keynotes (!) from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Neri Oxman and Rem Koolhaas. Spoiler alert: Rem's was the most boring.

For more information about the resolutions up for debate at the convention, check out our episode with Gregory Walker covering unpaid internships and WTC-truthers.

And don't forget to check out our ongoing coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale – we collaborated with the Taubman students setting up the US Pavilion, have a bunch of interviews with curators in the Features, and will soon be publishing dispatches from Venice to the News.

Shownotes:

Fred Scharmen's work with outer space for The Working Group on Adaptive Systems

LMN Architects in Seattle named AIA's 2016 firm of the year

Architecture Lobby's collaboration with Slought on (Re)Working Architecture

Neri Oxman’s 'Qamar' wearable for extraterrestrial environments