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
Ready to explore this path?
Request a review and we'll recommend the right approach for your Ontario business.
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