Presenting Architectural Work: What Clients Actually Want to See

“Less is more.”

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Restraint only works when it’s deliberate. Typography, spacing, image treatment, navigation and the empty space on a page should all belong to the practice, not to a template. Try this test: remove the logo. Does the site still feel like yours?

What it takes: a design that starts from your visual language rather than a theme’s defaults, and the discipline to leave things out.

Most architecture sites follow one pattern: project, photographs, next project. A homeowner deciding whether to trust you with their extension wants more. What was the brief? What was hard about the site or the planning? What did you actually do?

Louis Kahn famously asked what a brick wanted to be. Good architecture starts with a question, and a good project page shows the question as well as the answer.

What it takes: project pages built like case studies, with a short piece of writing, a few well-chosen drawings and a clear line on the constraint that shaped the design. See how we present projects in our portfolio.

Compare two ways of naming a project:

• House Extension, 2024
• Contemporary House Extension in Ennis, County Clare

The second still looks right in a portfolio, but now it can be found by someone searching for that kind of work in that place. Good search visibility comes from describing real work clearly. It doesn’t make a site less beautiful.

What it takes: clear project titles, structured project information and clean technical foundations, all invisible to the visitor. This is the work behind our SEO services.

We offer a short, no-obligation review of how a practice’s projects are presented and found. You get a plain-English summary of what’s working and what isn’t. Contact us to arrange one.

Architecture has one of the sharpest conflicts between beautiful imagery and page speed. Large professional photographs deserve to be seen properly, but a page that takes eight seconds to load on a phone won’t be seen at all.

This is a design problem as much as a technical one. Images need the right format, size and loading order, and compression that keeps tone and detail. It also means working with the photographer. A Dublin client told us we had liaised with their photographer to make sure the right shots were on the page, which is how we approach every project. You can read that and other feedback on our client reviews page.

What it takes: treating a slow hero image as a design failure, and treating the photographer as part of the team. Good hosting and support keeps image-heavy sites quick after launch.

A practice website is visited by:

• A homeowner: Can you design my extension?
• A developer: Have you done projects like this before?
• A commercial client: Can this practice handle something of this scale?
• Another professional: Would I want to collaborate with this studio?
• Someone who was referred: Are these the people my friend told me about?
• Google: What does this practice do, and where?

A gallery alone can’t answer all of that.

What it takes: structure. Clear project categories, sensible filtering, and information that’s there when you look for it and out of the way when you don’t. For the full picture of how a whole practice site should work, see our guide to the architecture practice website.

“Form ever follows function.”

Louis Sullivan

The tools available to a small practice have moved on. Depending on the work, a site might include project filtering by type or scale, before-and-after views, interactive floor plans, a map of completed work, a feasibility or cost estimator, or an enquiry form that adapts to the type of project.

Most of these would be wrong for most practices. The test is simple: does it help a visitor understand the work or take the next step? If not, leave it out.

What it takes: judgement about what to build, and the technical skill to build it without slowing the site.

Whoever you choose, put these questions to them:

1. Will project pages be written and structured, or just image galleries?
2. How will you protect image quality without slowing the site?
3. How will the site be built around how clients search for this kind of work?
4. What can it do that a printed portfolio can’t?
5. Who else has trusted you with their work, and what happened afterwards?

The last question matters most. It’s easy to make a claim and harder to show a record.

A website shouldn’t compete with the architecture. It should extend it.

If you’d like to see how we work, read what our clients say. Some report that their new website brought around 65–70% more potential customers, and others simply say it looks the way they hoped it would. We’re also listed in GoodFirms’ directories of WordPress developers in Ireland,and on Top Interactive Agencies.

If you’d like to talk about how your practice presents its work, get in touch or request a fixed-price quote.