Website for architects: a project portfolio with big photos that still loads fast

A website for architects is, above all, a portfolio: large photos, a page for every project, and navigation that lets the work do the talking instead of the website's design. The technical challenge, which is my problem and not yours, is making those photos look flawless and still load fast on the phone of someone who heard about you from a friend.

Here's what to show, how to organize it, and where studio websites tend to go wrong.

Beautiful photos that take forever

Architects invest in professional photography, and rightly so: it's the best way to tell the story of the work. The trouble starts when those files go straight onto the site. A full-screen hero image that takes ages to appear, a gallery that loads in chunks while the visitor scrolls, a phone on a weak connection that just gives up. Someone who came to see your work leaves before they see it.

The fix isn't lowering the quality. It's preparing each image properly. The site keeps the original photo and creates versions in different sizes: phones get the light one, big screens get the heavy one, and photos further down load only when the visitor reaches them. I wrote more about this in why website speed matters.

What every project page should include

Beyond the photos, this is what turns a gallery into a portfolio:

• The basics: project type, general location, year, and floor area if you want to share it.
• The project text: the idea, the site or client constraints, and how you solved them. Short, and written so someone who isn't an architect can follow.
• Plans and sketches: they tell colleagues and the most engaged clients what a photo can't.
• Credits: photographer, team, collaborators and contractor. It's fair, and it builds trust.
• Status: built, under construction, unbuilt or competition entry, so nobody mistakes a rendering for a photo.

How to organize your projects

Every studio has its own logic, and the site should follow it. Some sort by program: residential, commercial, interiors, public space. Others sort by year, so people can see how the practice has evolved. Many combine a homepage with the most representative projects and a full index with filters.

What doesn't work is an endless grid of photos with no context. A homeowner looking for an architect wants to see houses, fast. Someone coming from a magazine feature wants to find that one project. A good index serves both.

Who each part of the site is for

Explaining what an architect does, plainly

For a private client, hiring an architect is something they do maybe once or twice in their life. They don't know what schematic design includes, what construction administration means, or what to bring to the first meeting. A page that walks through the phases in simple words takes away a lot of anxiety and saves you explanation meetings.

If you work with clients abroad or enter international competitions, the site can be in English and Spanish; I explained how in bilingual website for small business. And for projects that don't exist yet, a 3D walkthrough lets clients move through the house before it's built. On the Recorrido 3D blog I wrote about 3D walkthroughs for architects.

How we'd build it

I work on my own, remotely from Buenos Aires, Argentina (UTC−3), with video calls and progress you can open from a link. You send me a selection of projects with photos, texts and credits, we decide together how to organize them, and I build the site with a dashboard so you can keep adding work. The design supports your photos instead of competing with them.

Every studio is different, so I quote each project separately. You can see other work in projects.

Frequently asked questions