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Marketing agency for architects and design studios

Websites and content that win architecture and design practices the projects they want.

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Marketing agency for architects and design studios
Architecture & design

For an architecture or design practice, your portfolio is everything and your website is where it lives. Prospective clients, competition organisers and collaborators judge you on it in seconds. Cornerstone builds the digital presence that shows design practices at the level they actually work.

The difficulty is that two audiences want opposite things from the same page. A peer, a competition panel or a collaborator wants the work presented cleanly and without commentary. A prospective client with a live project wants to know whether you have done this building type before, under what constraints, and whether the practice is the right size to take it on. Most practice websites are built entirely for the first audience.

Facade detail, from the architecture archive

The design practice challenge

Design studios have a paradox. You produce some of the most visually considered work in any industry, then present it on a website that does it no justice, or one so minimal that Google cannot understand it and clients cannot navigate it. Beautiful and findable are not opposites, but most practice websites pick one.

The mechanics are worth stating plainly, because they are rarely explained. Search engines and AI systems work with text. A project page carrying nine considered photographs and eleven words of caption offers nothing to read, so it is treated as close to empty. And project names are not searches: nobody types the name of a scheme they have never heard of. They type the building type, the sector, the constraint and the place.

What we do about it

How we help architecture and design studios

Beautiful and findable are not a trade-off. The best practice websites are both, and that is exactly what we build.

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  1. 1

    Portfolio-led web design

    A site that shows your work at its best and is still fast, structured and easy for a client to move through.

  2. 2

    SEO that respects the design

    Ranking for the project types and locations you want more of, without compromising how the site looks.

  3. 3

    Photography and film

    Capturing your completed projects to a standard your work deserves.

  4. 4

    Content and PR

    Turning your projects and thinking into the coverage and authority that wins the next commission.

  5. 5

    Sector and building-type pages

    Conservation, education, healthcare, retrofit, planning appeals. The pages that answer can you do the thing I need, using the practice's own work as the evidence.

  6. 6

    Project pages written as well as shown

    The brief, the constraint, the numbers and how it was resolved, sitting alongside the photography rather than replacing any of it.

What this looks like in practice

Nothing about the portfolio changes. The images stay exactly as they are, at the size and quality they deserve. What gets added is text: a paragraph on the brief, a paragraph on the constraint, the building type and floor area, and two or three paragraphs on how it was resolved. That is perhaps an hour per project, and it is the whole difference between a page that ranks and one that does not.

The other half is turning coverage into something durable. Architecture is one of the few parts of this sector where the press genuinely wants the work. Write the project up on your own site first, then approach editors with somewhere to point them, because a piece of coverage linking to a page you own is worth many times one that mentions you and links nowhere.

We come from architectural photography ourselves, so we understand design practices from the inside: how the work should be shown, and how to make it perform without stripping out what makes it good.

Solutions

What do you need?

  1. 1Be found first, on Google and in AI answersEvery built environment firm
  2. 2Turn finished projects into the next jobContractors, architects, interior designers
Done with

What we bring to the table

From the architecture archive

White glazed arts building with lettering between red and brown towers, brick-paved squareDiamond-patterned white cladding wall topped by plain blue skyTower with yellow balconies and two angled cranes on its roof against cloudy skyDark brown vertical-ribbed cladding edge against clear blue skyRed brick apartment block with a sloping roofline beside a smaller brick buildingGrand staircase and coffered ceiling in a marble hall with a chandelierGrey-clad corner with glass balconies against blue skyClose-up of a bronze cladding panel corner with soft reflectionsSite worker in white helmet and hi-vis vest walking an alley beside wheelie binsClose-up of vertical red, yellow, blue and green slats at a slanted angleDiamond-patterned glass tower curving above a paved plaza with outdoor tablesBronze-clad building corner with an overhanging roof edge against blue skyPale glazed building with lettering above a brick-paved plaza, tall cropBronze-clad top floors with several balconies above yellow brick, seen from belowMarble hall with grand staircase, wood panelling and coffered ceiling with a chandelierLooking up a white tower with green balcony edges against blue skyRed cladding with cream strips, dark windows and vertical lettering against skyDomed marble hall with a white statue in the foreground and painted ceilingClose-up of diamond-patterned white cladding with a few dark diamond openingsBronze-clad balcony corner with timber decking and distant skyline viewCream balconies with deep reveals on a tower, close crop seen straight onConcrete foyer with signage, black staircase and people at tables, seen from a galleryOrange and cream panel-clad corner block with ribbon windows and dark brick baseClose-up of a tower facade with blue windows beside yellow balcony railingsRed brick apartment blocks lining a paved street with young treesClassical stone building with domed tower, street lamp and fountain under blue skyClose-up of bronze cladding panel with cross-shaped joints against skyLooking up at a brick block with white balconies and street lampsApartment block with multicoloured balcony panels seen through treesPale apartment block with stepped balconies beside a dark red tower, seen from belowRed brick blocks with red balconies flanking a paved pedestrian street with treesTall tower with grey banded cladding rising over a paved walkwayWhite ribbed-clad building with lettering beside a dark red tower, tree-lined pathMarble hall with an arched window at the far end and a geometric floorClose-up of staggered horizontal slats in orange, blue, yellow and redRed brick block with dark balconies behind a planted bed and pine treeNarrow balcony with small table and chairs beside a bronze-clad wallTerracotta-red vertical fins beside glazed bays, close-upPainted dome above a green marble hall with arched wooden doors and a statueClose-up of diamond-patterned white cladding with dark joint linesBalconied block with dark and white panels above a glazed ground floorBronze-clad top storeys with a dark balcony over yellow brick, wide low-angle cropGrey apartment tower with bright green balcony edges, straight-on viewWide view of a domed marble hall with painted ceiling and circular floor patternColourful vertical-slat facade above a brick school entrance with letteringSite worker in hi-vis vest seen from behind among scaffold poles and sheetingTall crop of a white glazed building with lettering beside a red towerDark metal-clad tower edge with balconies against pale blue skyLooking up a tall tower with green balcony edges and a canopy overheadBrown brick apartment block with black balconies on a street corner with parked carsApartment block with yellow-edged balconies and white frame seen from a low angleSlim glazed residential tower rising behind bare trees under a cloudy skyGrey cladding panels between glazed balconies on a stacked facadeFront view of a white glazed building with lettering between red and buff blocksBronze panels beside a louvred opening and window, seen from a high balconyMarble corridor with wooden benches, a statue and an arched vaulted ceilingBronze-clad upper floors with dark balconies stepping up a yellow brick blockMarble hall with a pale green domed alcove between paired stone columnsBrown vertical-ribbed cladding panel beside a red brick returnLong balcony with timber decking, frosted glass screen and skyline in the distanceDiamond-patterned white cladding on a folded zigzag roofline against blue skyBrick apartment block with dark balconies and a grey top storey against blue skyCream stone hotel frontage with shopfronts and a red phone box on a streetDomed marble hall with painted ceiling, green stone walls and black and white floorClassical stone building with a domed tower and gilded statue, low street viewCorner of a multicoloured vertical-slat building over a school entrance with white letteringGallery overlooking a foyer with a pink artwork, glass balustrade and seated peopleBrick block corner with bronze cladding top and dark balcony against blue skyLooking up at a white tower with green balcony edges beside a glazed buildingBuilding wall clad in vertical red, yellow and orange stripes against blue skyPale apartment block with rows of glazed balconies beside a landscaped pathSite worker in hi-vis vest and white helmet looking up inside a scaffolded facadeTwo buff brick apartment blocks with glass balconies facing a landscaped courtyardTall block with grey banded cladding and ground-floor plantingBronze-clad balcony recess seen from inside, with timber decking and glazed doorCurved corner of a diamond-clad building above a glazed ground floorMarble hall with a statue in the foreground and a coffered arched ceilingDark grey and white apartment tower on a street corner with smaller blocks behindGrand marble staircase rising between green columns above oval floor inlaysTerracotta-red cladding panel set into a red brick building with balconiesLooking straight up between two towers with green and blue balcony edgesGrand marble hall with a sweeping staircase, chandelier and patterned black and white floorYellow brick block with rows of dark balconies and a bronze-clad top under cloudDomed hall with stained-glass window, painted ceiling and large floor patternDark grey panels and white balcony slabs on a block with one yellow windowDark brick apartment tower with recessed balconies seen from belowDark glazed facade with gold vertical mullions and a white pointed gable belowLarge empty gallery with a bright pink figure artwork and translucent windowsTall grey tower with green balcony accents seen from a low angleConcrete-framed balconies with yellow vertical dividers, viewed straight onApartment block with grey and white patchwork cladding above a street with red vanBrick block with dark balconies and bronze cladding top storeys, seen from belowBalcony railing and bronze-clad corner above a wide view of low rooftopsDark brown vertical-ribbed cladding around a tall window with a white ledgeCurved diamond-clad corner above a glazed entrance with lettering on the glassLooking across a marble hall floor towards painted domes and stained glassApartment block with red and magenta balcony panels beside pale claddingCorner of a white glazed building with angled lettering and a red tower behindPanoramic view from height over a castle moat, crowds and a rainbowFront elevation of a carved stone building with columns and an arched central doorRed brick apartment block with a tapering corner viewed from the street belowBronze balcony with slatted screen above a decked terrace and glazed doorsBrown brick apartment tower with cranes beside it, seen across a sandy building plotLong apartment block with sloping balconies above a walkway with banners and pedestriansWide view of classical stone building with domed tower under cloud, fountain in frontBrick apartment tower with stepped balconies above a landscaped courtyard gardenMarble hall seen between two carved doorways towards a domed ceilingClose-up of pale grey cladding with a rounded edge detail and a yellow stripGrey balconied apartment block seen from a low angle with cloudsStone-coloured apartment block with balconies and glazing beside a dark brick towerNarrow tower with red-pink vertical fins and grey balconies against blue skyBronze panel wall beside a balcony window with timber decking and distant skylineConcrete reception hall with a desk, large dancers' poster and colourful wall panelsDomed marble hall with stained glass, statues and a ringed floor pattern, central viewBronze-clad building corner with one dark balcony and railings above yellow brickClassical stone building with a domed tower and gilded statue, quiet street360-degree panorama of a street junction with low houses and a parked carWide panorama over a rocky coastline with islands, sea and green hillside
Questions

Questions we get asked

Ask us something else
Can you build a site that is both minimal and good for SEO?

Yes. Clean design and strong SEO are entirely compatible when the structure underneath is right. That is the craft.

Do you understand how design practices win work?

We do. Competitions, referrals, reputation and portfolio. We build to support how the sector actually commissions, not a generic lead funnel.

Will adding text to project pages spoil the design?

No. The text sits below or alongside the imagery rather than competing with it, and it is what turns a page a peer admires into a page a client can act on.

We win work through competitions and referrals. Is search relevant?

Yes, because referrals get checked. An engineer or contractor recommending you is putting their own judgement on the line, and what a client finds when they look you up decides whether that recommendation is made confidently or hedged.

Do you photograph completed projects as well?

Yes. We came out of architectural photography, and timing matters more than anything else: a scheme photographs best finished, cleaned and before it is occupied and cluttered.

Let’s talk growth

Book a discovery call and we’ll tell you honestly where your biggest, fastest wins are. No hard sell, no jargon.

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