Websites for Architecture Firms
Prospective clients reach five portfolios before they call one. Yours has to survive the shortlist on a phone screen, hold up at full resolution when a partner reviews it, and then give paying clients a clean space to review SD, DD, and CD packages without the email attachment ping-pong.
Looking for a tailored solution for your firm? View our industry overview
Industry Needs
Choose Your Path
WordPress / WooCommerce
- Best for solo or small teams
- Fast launch
- Plugin-based flexibility
React / Django Custom
- Best for growing organizations
- Phased rollout
- Complete ownership
Growth Roadmap
Path A can be your starting point. Path B is where you evolve when operations demand more.
Professional Website
Establish credibility online
Structured Intake
Forms, booking, document collection
Client Area
Billing, retainers, basic portal
Custom Portal
Full system ownership
Path A — WordPress / WooCommerce
Solo studios and small practices up to about 6 staff that win work through portfolio + referral, where design review still happens in consultant meetings and shared drives, and where the website's job is to convert a recommendation into a discovery call.
Phases
- 1.Portfolio site with project-level storytelling (not thumbnail walls)
- 2.Studio brand, method, and team pages that hold up to jury scrutiny
- 3.Inquiry form that qualifies programme type, site, and budget range
Core Pages
- Home / Studio (philosophy, awards, publications)
- Work — filterable by typology (residential, commercial, civic, interiors)
- Project pages — narrative, drawings, renders, final photos
- Services / Approach (SD → DD → CD methodology)
- Team — partners, registered architects, interns with credentials
- Journal / Press
- Contact / Start a Project (with programme, site, budget fields)
Core Features
- Full-resolution galleries with lazy loading and retina support
- Per-project layouts that accept plans, sections, renders, and photography
- Filterable work index by typology and scale
- Awards / publication callouts
- Qualified inquiry form routed to the partner email
Limitations
- •No per-client review space — design packages still emailed as PDFs
- •Approvals arrive as 'approved via email' — no timestamped record
- •Large CAD / Revit files move through Dropbox or WeTransfer
- •Project status lives in the project manager's head, not a client view
Path B — React / Django Custom
Firms with 10+ active projects at any time, multi-principal studios, or practices doing institutional / commercial work where clients expect a structured review trail for each design phase — not just a drawing set in an email.
Phases
- 1.Per-project client workspace with SD / DD / CD review cycles
- 2.Design-package delivery with markup, comments, and explicit approval
- 3.Large-file delivery pipeline (CAD, Revit IFC / NWC exports, render packages)
- 4.Milestone tracking with consultant and client visibility
Core Features
- Per-project client portal with role-based access (client / consultant / internal)
- Design-package viewer with versioning and side-by-side compare
- Markup and annotation directly on drawings and renders
- Approval button with timestamped audit log per package
- Large file (500MB+) upload with preview and expiry
- Milestone board tracking SD / DD / CD deadlines and consultant deliverables
- Internal dashboard aggregating deadlines across active projects
Our Recommendation
Why This Matters
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