For the month of September, Archinect is placing a special Spotlight on Chicago, highlighting important regional projects—including the Chicago Architecture Biennial opening next week—profiling local firms and practitioners, and delving into some of the most pressing issues in academia, practice, and employment that are taking shape there. 

In fact, the focus is already underway, as the recent articles below show:

• How BIM and Augmented Reality aid the construction of new dorms at UIC
• John Ronan's Frank Lloyd Wright visitor center in Oak Park hits preservation hurdles
• Check out this time-lapse of RAMSA's 70-story Chicago tower
• Searching for a job opportunity in Chicago? Here are 9 architecture firms currently hiring on Archinect Jobs

Archinect’s new Spotlight series brings increased attention to a different regionally significant city every month in an effort to highlight some of the most interesting and diverse aspects of architecture academia, employment, and professional practice that can be found across the country. The focus allows us to bring our Job Board, Dean’s List, Studio Snapshot, Fellow Fellows, and other features into alignment around a given city’s most exciting ideas, institutions, and practices while also adding a dose of regional diversity to our news, jobs, and editorial coverage.

In August, Archinect focused its Spotlight on Detroit, where a number of dynamic transformations are taking place. Here are a few articles from that effort:

• Deans List: University of Detroit Mercy's Dan Pitera and the Three Questions That Drive His Career
• EXTENTS on the Importance of Being Earnest, Contemporary Urbanism, and the Digital World
• The City That Could: Understanding Detroit Through Inclusive Design and Public Policy
• After delays, the pizza-slice-shaped windows on the Little Caesars headquarters in Detroit are almost complete
• Architect Kimberly Dowdell uses her hometown of Detroit as a catalyst for teaching equitable urban design practices
• Emily Helen Butterfield, Michigan's first female architect
• Detroit's Maurice Cox to lead Chicago's planning department 

For the remainder of the month of September, we will continue our focus on Chicago with a series of special features and exclusive news stories, so keep an eye out for the Spotlight on Chicago tag. 

For the month of October, we will focus on New York City⁠ in conjunction with Archtober—Let us know in the comments below if you have ideas for where should we focus on in November!