Architecture firm website design: portfolio, process and enquiries

Who designs websites for architecture firms?

Architecture practices are best served by a designer with a strong sense of typography, grids and restraint, who can also handle image performance, content management and search. Architects judge layouts the way they judge buildings, so the site has to be precise, but it also has to work as a business tool.

PJW Partners is a website design and AI agency that has built 50+ websites for clients in Asia, Europe and the US, many of them for brands where visual quality is the first test. Custom websites start from $1,500 USD and most launch in 3 to 6 weeks; large archives, several languages or bespoke interactions receive a tailored quote.

Questions worth asking:

• Can we add and reorder projects ourselves, with full-quality images, after launch?
• How will large images be served so pages stay fast on a phone?
• Will each project page carry real text that search engines and AI assistants can read?
• Can projects be filtered by typology, location and status?
• How will the design respect our own visual identity rather than a template?

You can see the range of our work on our work page.

Who is an architecture firm’s website really for?

An architecture website serves prospective clients first, and then collaborators, press, award juries and future staff. Each reads it differently, and a good site serves all of them without becoming cluttered.

Most will search for your name after a recommendation, a publication or seeing a building. Others search by typology and place, such as “residential architect in Phuket” or “boutique hotel architect Bangkok”, which is why project and practice pages need clear, descriptive text.

How should an architect present projects online?

Present projects as stories with a beginning, middle and end, not just image carousels. Photographs show what a building looks like; the text explains why it looks that way, which is what a client is hiring you for.

1. Title, location, year and status: completed, under construction, concept or competition entry.
2. Typology and scale: house, hotel, workplace, school; floor area or number of keys.
3. The brief: what the client needed and what constraints existed.
4. Site and context: climate, neighbours, views, planning conditions.
5. Design approach: the key decisions, with sketches or diagrams.
6. Materials and sustainability: what was chosen and why.
7. Outcome: how the building is used, and a client quote with permission.
8. Credits: project team, collaborators, contractor and photographer.

Curate hard. Ten strong projects persuade more than forty thin ones, and leading with the work you want more of attracts more of it. Make sure you hold the rights to use each photographer’s images online, and credit them every time.

Should an architecture firm explain its process and fees?

Yes. Explaining your process and how fees are calculated helps clients arrive prepared, and filters out enquiries that are not a fit. Many first-time clients do not know what an architect does at each stage, or that fees can be structured in different ways.

A process page usually walks through the stages in plain language:

• Briefing and feasibility: understanding needs, site and budget.
• Concept design: the overall idea, layout and form.
• Developed design and approvals: refining the design and preparing applications for permits.
• Technical design and tender: detailed drawings and specifications for contractors.
• Construction: site visits, queries and quality checks until completion.

On fees, you do not need to publish figures. Explain the common bases you use, such as a percentage of construction cost, a fixed fee per stage or hourly rates for smaller commissions, and what affects them: complexity, scope of service and project size. Say what you need from a client to give a fee proposal. That alone makes your enquiries more useful.

How can an image-led architecture website still load fast and rank?

An image-led website loads fast when every image is sized and compressed for the screen it appears on, and when real text sits alongside the pictures. Beautiful photography and good performance are not in conflict; unoptimised photography and good performance are.

1. Serve modern formats such as WebP or AVIF, with several sizes so phones do not download desktop images.
2. Load images lazily below the first screen, and prioritise the main image at the top.
3. Give video a still poster frame, and avoid heavy autoplay video on mobile.
4. Aim for Google’s “good” Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less.
5. Write descriptive alt text and captions, so search engines and screen readers understand each image.
6. Put project text in HTML, not inside images or PDFs.

Our website speed guide covers performance in more depth, and how to show up in Perplexity and AI Overviews explains why readable text matters for AI answers.

How should an architecture firm handle enquiries?

An architecture firm should ask a few qualifying questions in its project enquiry form, so the first conversation starts from the right place and poor fits are identified early.

• Project type: new build, renovation, interior or masterplan.
• Location, and whether the site has been acquired.
• Approximate size and budget range, offered as ranges rather than an open box.
• Timing: when they hope to start and finish.
• How they heard about you, which tells you which projects and channels work.

Keep separate, simpler routes for press requests, careers applications with portfolio upload, and collaborators such as consultants and suppliers. Show an email address and phone number plainly as well; some clients prefer to write a proper letter. Reply quickly and personally: an architect’s first response is already a sample of what working together will feel like.

What mistakes do architecture firms make with their websites?

The most common mistake is design that puts style before understanding: image-only pages with no text, cryptic navigation and contact details hidden for the sake of minimalism. Visitors who cannot work out what you do or how to reach you leave. Others to avoid:

• Unlabelled renders mixed with built work. Mark concepts and visualisations clearly.
• No dates or status on projects, which makes an active practice look dormant.
• No people. Clients hire individuals; show who leads the design.
• An abandoned journal whose last post is years old. Post occasionally or remove it.
• Huge, slow image files that make the first impression a loading screen.

Practices that also offer interiors can learn from our interior designer website guide. If your website does not yet do justice to your work, tell us about your practice and we’ll reply within one business day.

Questions