Rewiring an Architecture Portfolio with ModArch

ModArch Build Log: A Studio Site That Feels Premium

I rebuilt our architecture studio website with ModArch - Architecture & Interior WordPress Theme after a string of client calls where the same awkward thing kept happening: people loved our work after we walked them through a deck, but they didn’t feel it before they met us. The website wasn’t lying, it wasn’t broken, and it wasn’t even ugly. It was just… neutral. And neutral is the most expensive tone you can have in architecture and interior design. If your site doesn’t communicate taste and process in the first 20 seconds, visitors file you into the “maybe later” drawer and move on.

This piece is a first-person build log aimed at other site administrators—especially the ones doing hands-on WordPress maintenance for studios, construction teams, interior designers, or boutique firms that need a portfolio to do real business work. Since this is for a 优快云 mp-style audience, I’m going to be practical and a bit under-the-hood: how I evaluated the theme’s structure, how I organized content, what I customized, how I kept performance sane despite big visuals, and why a studio website is more like a curated exhibition than a service brochure.

If you’ve ever felt your studio’s projects are strong but your site feels like a template wearing your logo, you’ll recognize the problems I’m describing. ModArch helped me fix those problems without a full custom rebuild, and I’ll show you exactly how.

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1. The real architecture site problem: it’s not “design,” it’s curation

Let me say something that only becomes obvious after you’ve administered a few architecture or interior sites: almost any modern theme can look okay for a studio in demo land. The failure happens when you add real projects, real copy, and real scaling pressure. Then you realize the site was never built for curatorial logic.

Architecture buyers don’t browse like shoppers. They browse like curators or jurors. Subconsciously, they ask:

1. What is your taste?

2. What kind of projects do you specialize in?

3. Can I trust your process with my budget and timeline?

4. Do you understand clients like me?

5. Do I want to start a conversation with you?

If your site behaves like a catalog grid, it answers none of these in a satisfying order. The visitor sees too much too fast, can’t decide what matters, and leaves without reaching belief.

ModArch’s demo felt like it had curatorial DNA: large images with breathing room, controlled typography, and a project hierarchy that doesn’t collapse when your portfolio grows. That’s the first reason I chose it.

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2. The constraints I wrote down before installing anything

I’ve learned to write constraints before I import a demo. It saves time and prevents me from being seduced by pretty screenshots.

Here was my studio-site constraint list:

• Projects must be the homepage backbone.
  Not services, not slogans. If your work isn’t visible fast, you don’t exist.

• Portfolio archives must scale cleanly.
  Our studio adds projects every month. The archive must survive 200+ entries.

• Project pages must support storytelling + evidence.
  A slideshow is not a case study.

• Typography must stay calm under real copy.
  We use long project names and technical descriptions; layout can’t break.

• Filtering must match how clients think.
  Clients filter by project type, style, or function, not by our internal tags.

• Mobile must still feel premium.
  Many clients first browse on phones, even if they contact from desktop.

• Performance headroom for large imagery.
  Architecture photography needs size and clarity.

• Landing pages must be easy to clone.
  We pitch to different segments; I need repeatable pages that stay coherent.

ModArch matched these constraints at the structural level, not just the visual level.

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3. Demo import as a structural audit

As soon as I installed ModArch, I imported the closest demo. Not to keep it, but to examine the internal logic.

Here’s what I checked:

• Does the project archive maintain rhythm with mixed aspect ratios?
  Real photography isn’t cropped like demos.

• Can project cards handle long titles / location + year labels?
  If not, you’ll spend days patching CSS.

• Is the service section optional or forced?
  Studios shouldn’t feel like agencies unless they are.

• Do the headers / menus scale to multi-category navigation?
  Most studios need more than “Home / About / Projects / Contact.”

• Does the theme rely on heavy animation to feel premium?
  If yes, that’s a performance tax.

ModArch passed. The layout was resilient even after I swapped in uncropped images and longer titles. That resilience is what makes a theme maintainable in the real world.

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4. How I approached the homepage: “exhibition wall, not brochure”

My old homepage was classic studio-site banality: a hero image, a grid of services, a testimonial strip, and a “recent projects” list at the bottom. It looked professional but felt weightless.

With ModArch, I rebuilt the homepage like an exhibition wall:

4.1 Entrance (hero) should express a point of view

I used a hero that said:

• what kind of studio we are

• what kind of environments we shape

• one calm CTA to view featured work

I removed rotating sliders. In architecture branding, sliders often feel like uncertainty. One confident hero feels like a studio with taste.

4.2 Featured work comes before services

Right under the hero, I showed three featured projects. Not six, not ten. Three is enough to establish taste without overwhelming.

Each card had:

• project name

• category + location

• one sentence about the problem solved

ModArch’s spacing makes three projects feel like a gallery trio rather than a thin grid.

4.3 A small “practice lens” section

Instead of listing services as a bland inventory, I framed our practice as lenses:

• Residential spaces that age well

• Retail environments that guide movement

• Workplace design built around real workflows

• Renovation that preserves identity while modernizing function

This communicates specialization and philosophy. Clients don’t hire studios for menus; they hire studios for worldview.

4.4 Proof strip without corporate noise

I added a quiet proof strip:

• years in practice

• number of completed works

• region coverage

• a short quality/process line

Not a badge wall. Just calm competence.

4.5 Process preview

Before the visitor hits “Contact,” they need reassurance about how working with us feels.

I used a short three-step flow:

1. Discover and define the brief

2. Design and validate decisions

3. Execute and translate into built reality

I wrote these steps in human language, not internal jargon. This reduces client fear.

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5. Portfolio taxonomy: the thing most studios ignore

A portfolio is data. If your taxonomy is weak, your site is weak no matter how pretty the theme is.

ModArch supports portfolio filtering well, so I cleaned our taxonomy to match client browsing behavior.

I used three top-level categories:

• Project type (residential, hospitality, workspace, retail, cultural…)

• Style direction (minimal, warm-modern, industrial-soft, heritage blend…)

• Scope (new build, renovation, interior-only, full studio service…)

Then I applied a strict rule: a project gets only what helps clients decide, not every internal tag we can imagine.

This kept archives readable and prevented filter spam.

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6. Archive pages: scaling without entropy

Studios tend to add work over years, and archives often devolve into a chaotic mosaic.

ModArch’s archive template gave me two key strengths:

• consistent spacing that stays premium even at scale

• project cards designed for curated browsing

I still tuned the archive in two ways:

1. Default view shows curated subsets
   Instead of dumping all projects, I set the archive to highlight featured categories first.

2. Sort order favors relevance
   I pinned evergreen flagship projects and let recent work flow after that. A studio’s identity isn’t purely chronological; it’s curatorial.

These adjustments kept the archive from turning into a time-ordered warehouse.

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7. Project single pages: turning galleries into case studies

A lot of studio themes provide gorgeous galleries but weak project pages. Beauty isn’t enough. Clients want evidence and decision comfort.

I restructured each project page into a case study using ModArch’s flexible layout blocks.

Here’s the template I used:

7.1 Project overview (short)

One paragraph:

• what it is

• who it was for

• what mattered most

No essays. People want a thesis, not a dissertation.

7.2 Key facts strip

A tidy row of factual anchors:

• location

• year

• scope

• size

• role (design-only, design-build, interior-plus…)

This helps clients compare quickly.

7.3 Challenge section

A short explanation of constraints:

• site limits

• client goals

• timeline pressure

• budget balancing

• existing structure issues

Constraints prove competence. They show you didn’t just pick nice furniture.

7.4 Approach section

How we solved it:

• design moves

• material logic

• spatial planning choices

• stakeholder alignment

I wrote this in accessible language. Not everyone reading is an architect.

7.5 Gallery with captions

This is critical: no silent galleries.

Each gallery cluster had small captions describing why the decision exists. A caption turns an image into evidence.

7.6 Outcome / impact

I added measurable or experiential outcomes:

• improved traffic flow

• energy efficiency uplift

• acoustic comfort

• workplace satisfaction

• reduced renovation downtime

Even if outcomes are soft, naming them closes the loop.

7.7 Client quote (one line)

One line only. Specific, believable, human.

This structure makes project pages persuasive without becoming marketing fluff.

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8. Services pages: framing services as deliverable confidence

Architecture clients don’t buy services in isolation. They buy deliverable confidence.

Instead of a classic service list, I structured the services page like this:

• Who we’re best for (client profiles)

• What we deliver (outputs clients actually receive)

• How we collaborate (communication + approvals)

• Scope boundaries (what we do vs what we don’t)

Honest boundaries build trust. A studio that claims everything feels suspicious.

ModArch’s service blocks were flexible enough to support this without layout hacking.

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9. About page: the “people + philosophy” balance

A studio About page has two jobs:

1. Prove there are accountable, skilled humans.

2. Prove the studio has a coherent philosophy.

ModArch provides a clean About layout that doesn’t look like corporate HR.

I used:

• a short studio origin story

• the values we practice (not randomly listed values)

• a team strip with roles and responsibilities

• a “how we think about spaces” paragraph

I avoided long resumes. Clients care more about how you think than the exact timeline of each staff member.

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10. Landing pages for niches (admin gold)

We pitch in multiple segments. Each segment needs a landing page that feels like the main studio, not a random microsite.

ModArch made landing pages easy because the core sections are consistent.

I cloned a landing template and adjusted:

• hero tailored to the niche

• 3 relevant projects

• the practice lens that fits that niche

• a short process reminder

• CTA to schedule intro call

I built landings for:

• hospitality fit-outs

• residential renovations

• boutique retail

• workplace re-planning

All looked coherent because ModArch treats sections as a stable system.

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11. Mobile pass: premium can’t shrink into clutter

A sad reality: many architecture themes look premium on desktop and cramped on mobile.

After inserting real content, I did a phone-first audit:

• hero crop clarity

• gallery navigation comfort

• project cards stacking without awkward gutters

• filter UI thumb-friendliness

• CTA visibility without shouting

ModArch held up. I only tightened a few long sentences to reduce vertical scroll fatigue.

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12. Performance: big visuals without big slowdown

Architecture sites need large images. If you compress too hard, your work looks cheap. If you don’t compress at all, your site becomes slow, and slow feels unprofessional.

My performance workflow:

• export consistent widths for thumbnails

• keep aspect ratios predictable

• compress for texture, not just size

• lazy-load below-fold galleries

• avoid autoplay background media

• remove unused demo widgets

Because ModArch has a light baseline, performance tuning stayed reasonable. That’s not cosmetic; it’s a maintenance advantage.

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13. My small but crucial customization rules

To keep the site coherent across time and multiple editors, I set a few rules for our admin team:

1. Project titles follow a consistent format
   “Project Name — Typology, City (Year)”

2. Every project has a one-sentence thesis
   If we can’t summarize the project in one sentence, clients can’t read it.

3. No silent galleries
   Each gallery cluster needs captions.

4. Maximum three categories per project
   Taxonomy discipline beats tag soup.

5. Homepage stays curated
   New projects don’t auto-flood the hero. We curate quarterly.

These rules made ModArch feel like a studio system rather than a one-time theme install.

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14. When I choose a broader base theme instead

ModArch is my architecture/interior bias theme. It’s made for studios where taste, evidence, and curation are the conversion engine.

When I’m building outside this niche—like ecommerce, SaaS, agencies, or mixed client work—I start from a wider base library like Multipurpose Themes so I can match a different vertical without fighting a studio-shaped layout. ModArch is precise and focused; multipurpose bases are for broader needs.

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15. What I changed vs. what I left alone

Keeping it transparent:

I changed:

• homepage sequencing

• taxonomy structure

• project pages into case studies

• service framing as deliverables

• landing page templates for niches

• caption discipline for galleries

• performance optimization

I didn’t change:

• core typography system

• archive layout templates

• global spacing language

• mobile breakpoints

• overall visual tone

Because ModArch already had the correct studio DNA, most of my work was content architecture, not CSS surgery.

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16. Honest pros and cons after launch

Pros I experienced:

• Studio-native spacing and hierarchy

• Portfolio archives scale without chaos

• Project pages are easy to turn into case studies

• Typography tolerates real, technical copy

• Landing pages clone cleanly

• Mobile stays premium

• Lightweight baseline for image-heavy sites

• Overall tone feels confident and curated

Cons (more like realities):

• You still need consistent photography

• If you ignore taxonomy discipline, any theme will feel messy

• Captions require editorial effort

• Overloading pages with too many projects kills curation

None of these are ModArch flaws. They’re the costs of running a studio site that wants to feel premium and trustworthy.

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17. Post-launch change: visitor behavior felt decisive

The biggest win wasn’t a design compliment. It was analytics and lead quality.

Before ModArch, inquiries were vague:

• “Can you do something like this?”

• “What do you charge?”

• “Do you handle interiors too?”

After ModArch, inquiries were specific and grounded:

• “We saw your retail renovation case study; could you scope a similar timeline?”

• “Your warm-modern residential projects align with our brief—can we talk about feasibility?”

• “We need a hospitality fit-out with heritage constraints; your approach section convinced us.”

That tells me the site started doing its real job: turning taste into trust, and trust into leads.

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Final takeaway

A good architecture or interior studio theme isn’t a pretty shell. It’s a curatorial system that helps strangers feel your taste, trust your process, and imagine collaborating with you.

ModArch gave me a structure that stayed premium under real content pressure, scaled cleanly with our growing portfolio, and supported case-study storytelling without custom-build headaches. I spent less time fixing layout and more time sharpening evidence. For a site admin in a studio, that’s the outcome that matters.

If your studio’s work is strong but your website feels neutral or generic, ModArch is a foundation that helps your projects speak in the order clients need to hear them.