Brian Cassil Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Our firm is in desperate need of a new website and I have been given the task of leading a web designer in the creation of one. I have a pretty good idea of what I want but I thought it wouldn't hurt to look at some other firms sites and see what works and what doesn't. I would be interested to know what you guys think make for a good architectural firm's website and even better if you could link me up to some good examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otacon Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I like sites that are simple and easy to navigate between projects with nice imagery. http://www.fosterandpartners.com http://www.rtkl.com/ http://www.michaelgraves.com http://www.som.com/ http://www.richardmeier.com/ http://www.ksarch.com/ http://www.arquitectonica.com/ http://www.pbdw.com/main.html http://www.pcparch.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kainoa Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I always liked Renzo Piano's http://rpbw.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron-cds Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 These are always a great resource for studying professional architecture photos. The interior photos on RTKL's site are a nice reference for how rooms look without sunlight flooding into them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tecton3d Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/ http://www.msafdie.com/ simple and effective HTML: http://www.ericowenmoss.com/ and, although confusing at first, i really enjoy http://morphosis.net/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I would couple of things that I would avoid... - splash pages that force you to read or watch something. - pages that force you to launch another window in order to access the site - pages that force your screen into full size mode - a site that is entirely flash based, flash integrated into it is fine ....these are all things that inhibit me when i am searching for information. just my one penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiittea Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Though not an arch firm site. But this one was developed by Dbox. This is one my favourite sites - http://www.delliscay.com/index2.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks for all the input guys. It's very helpfull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is one of the best architecture sites I have ever seen, simple and well thought out with all the information you could ever want interlinked. http://www.richardrogers.co.uk Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I would couple of things that I would avoid... - splash pages that force you to read or watch something. - pages that force you to launch another window in order to access the site - pages that force your screen into full size mode - a site that is entirely flash based, flash integrated into it is fine ....these are all things that inhibit me when i am searching for information. just my one penny. Amen Brutha! I like these two a lot. http://www.boora.com/ http://www.hga.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Of all the websites listed here the two I like the look and feel of the most is Moshe Safdie's site and HGA's. I may use those as examples of general direction for our web designer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullen Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 One of the main things to think about is functionality as well. You don't want to have a site that is hard to navigate or update. Another thing to think about is making your site search engine friendly. Although full flash sites are cool, they aren't really SEO friendly. This is due to the fact that your site is completely contained in one page and the text isn't searchable by a search engine. However, you can always build a html site and include flash pieces. Hope that helps... crw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 i wasn't going to promote the site because it is to much flash, but the company i work for has a nicely done site. actually, i don't know what percentage the flash is. i like it because it is clean and elegant. http://www.hok.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 I didn't realize you worked for HOK. Have you been there very long? I had already checked out your website and I like everything about it except that it takes a little too long for it to load initially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Since November. It has always loaded quickly for me at home, so I assumed it was the same for all. The quick load made me not mind the flash so much, but apparently that is not true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Since November. That's about what I thought. I got a bunch of calls from a headhunter looking for someone to work in the San Fransisco office last summer. As much as I would have loved to work for an elite design firm like HOK (do you ever have to render cold storage facilities?) I basically had to say I'm too tied down with my family here in Salt Lake. Looks like it worked out for you. Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunDon Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I understand people's aversions to all-flash sites... I frequent Slashdot and I swear to God they never stop complaining about it. Saying that, it has its place, and I quite like the site that we had designed for our studio (http://www.tangram3ds.com) -- we told the designers that we wanted something that put images front and center and would let people full screen our work on their screens. At the same time we wanted simplicity and elegance. What they came up with we've been extremely happy with, and to boot despite it being a flash site they did an incredible amount of work on the back-end to make sure that every line of text is stored in an html file that's spidered by search engines. In fact, we've even gotten projects by people searching for firms that we've listed as having worked with, and our site comes up! Just saying Flash definitely has it's place. And while the tech savvy may find it annoying at times, I still think the majority of web-going audiences will be impressed by a well-designed flash site. Just keep it simple in layout, easy to navigate, and don't overdo it on the flashy Flash stuff. ;-) Good luck with the project! Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now