Present an architecture project online as a short case study: what the client needed, what you designed and why, the drawings that explain it, the numbers that prove it, and the photographs that make people want it. A page structured this way persuades clients and ranks in search far better than a gallery.

Lead with the brief, not the hero shot

Start with two or three sentences on the client, the site and the problem. “A family needed a house on a flood-prone estuary” makes every image that follows meaningful.

Add a data band

A row of facts under the title (location, sector, year, area, status, client) lets visitors scan in seconds and gives search engines structured information. Keep it consistent across every project so pages can be compared.

Show at least one plan and one section

Architects think in drawings, and good clients like seeing them. A ground-floor plan explains the organisation; a section explains light, height and the relationship to the ground. Redraw them for the web: high contrast, larger labels, a scale bar and room names with areas.

Making drawings readable on screen

Contrast: light lines on dark, or dark on light, never mid-grey on grey. Labels: larger than you would print. Simplify: remove construction layers and keep walls, openings and names. Scale bar instead of a ratio, so it works at any size.

Tell the story in three or four chapters

Site, concept, build, outcome. Each chapter gets a heading, a short paragraph and one image or drawing. This rhythm keeps people scrolling and gives the page natural headings that search engines read.

Use numbers carefully

Three or four figures are enough: gross floor area, time on site, embodied carbon against a baseline, number of seats or homes. Only publish numbers you can stand behind.

Credit the team

Listing engineers, landscape architects and contractors shows professionalism and earns links when collaborators share the page.

Write captions that explain

A caption is a small piece of design writing. Instead of “Interior view”, write “Reading hall at dusk, looking west across the harbour”. Captions tell the reader what to notice and give search engines more meaningful text. Number them like figures (Fig. 01, Fig. 02) to keep the drawing-set rhythm.

Keep captions short, factual and in the same style across every project, so your portfolio reads like one body of work rather than a collection of different documents.

Choose images in a sequence

Order photographs the way a visitor would experience the building: approach, entrance, main space, details, then the building at a different time of day. A sequence tells the story without words. Avoid five nearly identical shots of the same facade; pick the best one.

Mix scales on purpose. One wide context shot, a few room views and two or three close details of material and junctions show that you care about the whole building, from site to screw.

End with the next step

The bottom of a project page is a decision point. Offer the next project in the same sector, and an invitation to discuss a similar brief. A visitor who has read to the end is interested; do not leave them at a dead end with nothing but the footer.

Keep projects up to date

Update the status of projects as they move from design to site to completion, and add finished photography when you have it. A project marked “on site” for three years quietly suggests that things have stalled.

Group projects so they can be compared

A work index that shows every project with the same small set of facts lets visitors scan quickly: code, title, location, status and year. Consistent cards make a portfolio feel like a body of work. Let visitors move from the index to a project and back without losing their place.

If you have many projects, let people browse by sector. A homeowner does not need to scroll past libraries to find houses. Keep the categories few and obvious, and make sure each project belongs to exactly one.

Finally, order the index on purpose. Newest first suits a busy practice; best first suits a practice with a few landmark projects. Whichever you choose, keep it consistent so returning visitors find what they saw last time.

Gallery page vs case-study page at a glance

What clients learn: gallery, your style · case study, how you solve problems

Search visibility: gallery, a few image alt texts · case study, headings, data and real text

Time to produce: gallery, an hour · case study, an afternoon

Make every project page work the same way

Consistency is easier with a CMS. In Hallform Architects each project is one CMS item with fields for the brief, data band, gallery captions, plan and section drawings, figures, quote and credits, so a new project page takes an afternoon rather than a week of layout.

For example, a practice with eight projects written this way has eight pages that can rank for searches like “timber cabin architect Norway”, each ending in an invitation to get in touch.

Common questions

How many photos per project? Six to twelve, captioned. Fewer, better images beat a long scroll.

Should I publish unbuilt projects? Yes, if they are clearly marked as in design or competition entries.

Do drawings give away too much? Simplified web drawings show thinking without sharing construction detail.

What alt text should drawings have? Describe what the drawing shows, such as “Ground floor plan with reading hall and courtyard”.

How long should a project page be? Long enough to tell the story; most good ones are 400–800 words plus images.