An architecture portfolio is a crucial tool for showcasing your skills and design sensibility to potential employers, clients, and for students architecture schools.
It allows you to demonstrate your experience and capabilities in a visual and tangible way, and can be the deciding factor in whether or not you are offered a job or project.
Whether you prefer a print or digital format, it is important to take the time to carefully curate and design your portfolio in order to curate the best possible presentation of your work.
To help you with your own portfolio journeys, here we showcase a variety of inspiring architecture portfolio examples from a range of architects, designers, and students.
Each displaying a divers selection of portfolio presentation styles and formats, that provide a valuable insight into how to effectively present and layout your work.
Building upon these discussion points, the below Portfolio Kit contains a highly detailed guide teaching you how to craft and package the perfect collection of work for both academic and licensed architect portfolio scenarios, and in both digital and physical formats.
Everything in One Place
Stand out from the competition, and create an interview ready portfolio.
Architecture portfolio examples – Design
The below first 10 examples have been selected for their standout qualities in design.
These are layouts that convey architectural meaning, typographic decisions that enhance the showcased graphic material and special visual vocabularies crafted to express the personality of their authors.
Through carefully designed color palettes, typographic ludic approaches, strategic distribution of white space and other design choices, these portfolios are successful in providing a proper form to their content. Let’s take a look!
01 – Roberto Vargas
About the portfolio
Roberto Vargas is a licensed architectural designer holding a master’s degree in Robotics and Advanced Construction + Thesis from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Barcelona.
He describes himself as having a passion for robotic fabrication, parametric design and environmental challenges of construction, among many others.
His multidisciplinary and technological approach to architecture is clearly readable in his selection of 9 research and 8 architectural design projects.
Why we like it
Projects are presented in a simple yet graphically consistent and interesting way. Using black, colored and photographic plains with rounded corners, he introduces variety without compromising clarity and synthesis.
Hierarchies of information are well treated, and graphic material is attractive although not saturating.
02 – Payal Subbaiah
About the portfolio
Payal Subbaiah is an architect and interior designer with a particular interest in UX Design and Future Technologies. She’s interested in how people perceive and experience spaces.
Her selection for her architecture portfolio comprises 4 projects and an annex with artistic projects.
Why we like it
The sensibility of the author is evidenced in the subtle color scheme she chose for presenting the projects and in the warm minimalism of her drawings.
With a clear sense of hierarchy for the graphic material that matters the most, she showcases a good number of urban diagrams, plans and images.
The annex, which comprises her extracurricular illustrations, is the proof of her artistic and creative thrive towards the experience of space.
03 – Elissa Sudargo
About the portfolio
Elissa Sudargo is an interior designed graduated from the LASALLE College of the Arts, in Singapore. She declares a deep passion for detail and craftsmanship, as well as a taste for analogue photography and Art Déco.
Her selection of 6 projects is completed with 2 artistic projects of her own, of graphic design and photography.
Why we like it
The administration of the whites of the pages is achieved in a very simple yet effective manner, both giving breathing space to the pictures and bringing graphical consistency to the whole book.
This is also what aids to give deeper impact and sense of variety to full page images and breaking of margin when they appear.
The aesthetic and color scheme of the personal photography section gives sense to the entire work selection.
04 – Anne Ma
About the portfolio
Anne Ma is a graduated architect from Yale School of Architecture in 2016. Her portfolio, crafted right after graduation, shows 10 academic projects and 3 professional ones.
She decides to open the book, before the content index, and close it in the last page, with a comic strip of her own creation, presenting her artistic thrive from the start to the end.
Why we like it
Maybe in contrast with the previous architecture portfolio examples, this portfolio makes use of complex arrangements and dispositions of information that nevertheless work in their own logic to present the rather “comic” feel of the author.
The bold use of shapes and intense colors adds up to the well-thought graphical layout, where no line is innocent.
05 – Liu Songkai
About the portfolio
Liu Songkai used this portfolio to apply to a Master in Columbia University. Right from the cover and the first two pages, we can get the feel for his phenomenological approach to architecture.
His selection comprises 5 projects and an annex demonstrating his abilities with free-hand sketching, model making and photography.
Why we like it
His intensive use of full double page images mixed with floating drawings and diagrams does a big job in portraying the spatial sensibility of his projects.
From model pictures and renders to site analysis diagrams and construction drawings, he presents his graphic abilities at their most. The personal annex also demonstrates his cultural and artistic interests.
06 – Amal George
About the portfolio
Amal George is an ongoing undergraduate architecture student, with a background in film poster design. His graphic design drive is clearly visible through the pages, compiling half a dozen projects and his own sketches (he even designed a packaging for the portfolio!).
From the beginning, he states a strong Le Corbuserian influence, which you can see reflected in his production and choosing of visual material.
Why we like it
This portfolio is super effective in conveying a high-impact design philosophy from start to end. The selection of drawings is successfully synthetic, and each of them strategically complements the simple but bold design and typographic layout.
It shows the author design skills without outshining his architectural ones.
07 – Daria Pilipak
About the portfolio
Daria Pilipak is an architect who completed her master’s degree in Politecnico di Milano. She has a professional background in graphic design and a visible interest in urban and territorial scale projects.
This is shown in a very sober and systematic way all through the displayed four projects.
Why we like it
The strength of this portfolio lays in the ability to present very different projects in a structured, methodical way. The selection of drawings is effective in showing representation skills in all range of scales, allowing for productive comparison.
The layout of the whole book shows sobriety and thoughtful work without compromising diversity and rhythm.
08 – Anastasiia Perova
About the portfolio
Anastasiia Perova was an architecture student before switching to UI/UX design. Her portfolio shows in a very simple yet impactful way 7 projects and a selection of futuristic architectural drawings.
The overall selection displays the pastel-graphics style of the author in a successful way.
Why we like it
The alternated use of full pages for renders mixed with the strategic utilization of white space results in a harmonic and easy pace of reading.
Typography aids to the information hierarchy and doesn’t stand out, enhancing the diagrams and drawings as protagonists. This is a portfolio that conveys sobriety and professionalism.
10 – Mine Öztürk
About the portfolio
Mine Öztürk is a Turkish postgraduate architecture student at Istanbul Technical University. Her interests span from illustration and graphic design to theory and criticism of architecture, topics which you can see reflected in her work.
The portfolio spans across 6 projects with an emphasis in experimentation.
Why we like it
This portfolio succeeds in having its own graphic vocabulary that enhances the architectural concepts being displayed. The approach is playful yet systematic, and the disposition of drawings regarding images allows for a clear reading.
The dynamic layout and typographic decisions show successfully the personality of the author.
Student architecture portfolio examples – Undergraduates applying to university and college
As mentioned in our undergraduate architecture portfolio guide, most architecture schools require from prospective students to submit a creative portfolio showcasing their skills and interests that might fit with an architecture education program.
Here we are facing the widest range of creativity: what’s expected from you is that you include anything that is at least vaguely related to art and architecture.
Coordinators might want to be sure that you are aware of what does a creative process imply, what are its difficulties and personal rewards.
So showing that you have drawn, sculpted, took photographs, painted, crafted or even knitted anything already helps a lot. Let’s take a look at the examples.
01 – Phuoc Thinh Luu
About the portfolio
Phuoc Thinh Luu used this portfolio to apply to be an architecture student at Laurentian University. Through 14 projects, he showcases his creative abilities as an illustrator and a model maker. He states his architectural drive by displaying a good amount of drawings and pictures of his work.
Why we like it
The portfolio does what it’s supposed to: prove the author’s both skill and architectural influences. He includes models, hand and digital drawings, and diagrams.
His work spans from conceptual to very artistic and personal, demonstrating who he is as a person and his interests as a future architecture student.
02 – Iva Velichkova
About the portfolio
Iva Velichkova made this portfolio of paintings to apply to Manchester School of Architecture. The 7 drawings that compose the selection are based on photos she took while travelling mixed with her own imagination.
Why we like it
She keeps it extremely simple: one drawing a page and a little description for each one. Through this synthetic selection she shows her interest in architecture and landscape, and she takes us one step further into the creative drive that moves her.
It’s possible to read a consistent, expressionistic style that would definitely make for a great architecture student.
03 – Mackintosh School of Architecture guidance examples
About the portfolio
This document published by the Mackintosh School of Architecture for the applicants to their BArch programme is a solid reference for what is expected in an application portfolio. They don’t only list the requirements, but they also show samples from already accepted students.
Why we like it
The guidance document spans across all kinds of different material that would be acceptable in an application portfolio. Digital and physical models, sculptures, photographs, axonometric and perspectival drawings, paintings. Anything that links to creative work will do the trick!
04 – Callum Henderson
About the portfolio
Callum Henderson got accepted into Cambridge Architecture with this portfolio. He took advantage of his background in drawing, model making and photography to make an incredibly complete selection of creative works.
For the format, he chose to always have physical versions of it to perform better in the interview.
Why we like it
This portfolio makes for a flawless application. The author showcases a wide variety of drawings, pictures of models and artistic photography. He goes one step further and applies his design skills to make a proper layout for all the material displayed.
05 – Samiha Ali
About the portfolio
Samiha Ali applied successfully to Ryerson Architecture School with this selection of 10 creative projects. Through drawings, models, photographs, and fantasy art she shows her interests and ability of research with physical materials and digital tools.
Why we like it
This portfolio screams design all through its pages. Every work is presented from the point of view of an author who put thought and questions into problems that needed solving. It also shows variety and flexibility to adapt to different assignments.
Graduate student architecture portfolio examples
An graduate student portfolio, in contrast to a student application portfolio, should already include all the design skills an architecture student needs to get into postgraduate school, and even to get an internship or an entry level job.
A portfolio like this will showcase your ability to design in plans, sections, perspective, axonometric and any kind of proper architectural system of representation.
Here we’re looking for what makes you interesting as a prospective architect: not only that you are capable of achieving a proper architectural design, but also that it’s conceptually deep and your own.
Here, the selection of 5 undergraduate architecture portfolio examples.
01 – Brian Yung
About the portfolio
Brian Yung is an undergraduate student at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design & Planning. He states his interest in conservation and patrimony, without resigning innovation.
He made this portfolio comprising 3 chapters (public architecture, cultural architecture, and housing), with 2 projects each.
Why we like it
This is a very consistent selection of high graphic impact. Through drawings, renders and diagrams, Brian showcases his architectural abilities and his personal design touch. He even goes one step further displaying an annex with a futuristic design project.
02 – Swaraj K
About the portfolio
Swaraj is a student at the Madhav Institute of Technology & Science, in Gwalior, India. He has a background in urban sketching and photography that directs his architectural drive.
For his portfolio, he chose to organize the displayed work into 3 sections: academic work, professional practice, and an annex with miscellaneous.
Why we like it
In a very systematic way, he goes from displaying urban site analysis diagrams to technical details. However, he doesn’t fall short of conveying his personal touch, as is proven in the miscellaneous section with his photographs and urban sketches from travels.
The emphasis in the most impacting graphic material is well put.
03 – Berrak Işık
About the portfolio
Berrak Isik is an undergraduate architecture student from Turkey. She states to have a particular interest in storytelling, which she emphasizes through her selection of 5 projects and an annex with sketches and models.
A futuristic, utopian feel is conveyed through the way she draws and narrates her work.
Why we like it
In terms of design, this is a very clean and sober approach that allows the drawings to stand out for themselves. For each project she draws a sort of 9-squared comic strip cover that anticipates the topics about to be developed.
The layout is dynamically adjusted when needed, without compromising consistency.
04 – Anuj Gurjar
About the portfolio
Anuj Gurjar is an architecture student at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, in Bhopal, India. He has a particular interest for user experience design and design futures. In this portfolio, he chose 4 architectural and 2 graphic design and artistic projects to showcase his work.
Why we like it
Through a minimalist and efficient approach, this portfolio puts diagrams and conceptual renders in the foreground.
Spanning from technical and structural details to whole graphic identities, the author is successful in conveying his personality and interest through the selection of works.
Poster design and photographs with an emphasis on architectural experience complete the collection.
05 – Katrina Ruiz
About the portfolio
Katrina Ruiz was an undergraduate architecture student at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde at the moment she made this portfolio. It comprises a selection of 8 works from 2017 to 2020. She has a drive for user experience and graphic design.
Why we like it
This portfolio is very diverse in terms of visual material, which doesn’t mean is less consistent. The architectural and design skills of the author are shown in a very wide but still synthetic selection of perspective sections, renders and diagrams.
Through a sober colour palette, she conveys a sense of unity to the whole collection.
Internship Architecture portfolio examples
An internship portfolio means taking your academic work one step further. It’s not only about showing that you can draw and design, but also that you are perfectly capable of being self-driven in a professional environment.
You know what architecture is about, you have already developed a personal style and you are starting to make a path for yourself.
Professional experience like in internships or contests might already appear in a portfolio like this, although is more likely that most of the work presented is academic.
Applying to an entry level job is a perfectly good aim for a postgraduate selection of works. Let’s dive into some examples.
01 – Naveen Kumar
About the portfolio
Naveen Kumer is an architect who graduated as a Master at Politecnico di Milano in 2019. In this selection of 6 works from the period 2011-2021, he showcases projects from his undergraduate studies all the way until his recent professional career.
What is also interesting is that he included, in the end, an annex about his activities during the lockdown of 2020.
Why we like it
With impacting double paged images that serve as covers for every project, this portfolio is successful in presenting the work of a young designer who is ready to compete in a professional level.
The selection of drawings enhances the complexity of each project. While keeping the most imaginative academic work, he doesn’t fall short of including more technical professional material.
02 – Jack Arnold
About the portfolio
Jack Arnold is a postgraduate student from the Leeds School of Architecture master’s program. He has a passion for humanitarian architecture and a particular skill for parametric design.
In this portfolio of 6 projects, he aims to apply as an architectural assistant in London.
Why we like it
With an adjusted and simple colour palette, this portfolio is successful in keeping a consistent style that allows for zones of emphasis when needed. The layout is synthetic and to the point.
The projects selected are coherent with the description the author makes of himself.
03 – Kate Maiden
About the portfolio
Kate Maiden is a Master of Architecture student from the University of Adelaide. She has also started her career as a teaching assistant. With this selection of 5 works, she aims to showcase her journey through architecture.
Why we like it
Even though each section has its own beautiful colour palette, the publication is consistent enough to make you feel like they are all part of the same universe. Two-paged powerful collages announce every project.
The skills showcased span across a wide range of architectural fields, from conceptual design to technical details.
04 – Tony Li
About the portfolio
Tony Li is a postgraduate architecture student with a bit of professional experience in structural details and documentation. Through the pages of his portfolio, he showcases 5 projects and some hand sketches. The aim of it is to apply for an architectural assistant position.
Why we like it
A little thumbnail for each project makes perfectly clear the content we’re about to see in the first page. Using a very simple layout and only a few drawings per page, the portfolio presents the skills of the author from urban analysis to specific structural plans.
The contributions made by him are highlighted in a direct and understandable way.
05 – Natalia Khlopenkova
About the portfolio
Natalia Khlopenkova is an architecture student from Russia. Through this exquisite publication of 6 projects, she showcases not only her architectural but also her editorial design skills.
Why we like it
The portfolio has nothing to envy to major architectural magazines. Hierarchies of information are extremely clear; the distribution of whites make it very pleasurable to read and the drawings are allowed to stand out in their own beauty.
This is a very good example of a portfolio that makes its author look serious and committed.
Professional and qualified/licensed architects architecture portfolio examples
Professional architecture portfolios are the last tier of the examples here selected. With the experience, academic projects start to be of less relevance, except if they are of theoretical value, like a PhD or a research publication.
Documentation of construction works, professional contests and commissions with real clients are at hand for a proper selection.
These portfolios might be aimed at applying for a new job, showing your work to potential new clients or for academic submissions of a high level. The following 5 architecture portfolio examples are good samples of what to look for.
01 – Anique Azhar
About the portfolio
Anique Azhar is an architect from Pakistan, working in the collective MAS/Architects, in Lahore. His approach as a professional is traversed by hand drawing as a mean of design. Through this sublime collection of drawings, he shows his design skills in a very graphical way.
Why we like it
As a dramatic storyboard, this portfolio unwraps a universe of design resolutions on the go. Looking at each drawing you can tell how the author is thinking about architecture and the way in which he solves problems that arise.
Using only synthetic black ink lines and orange for emphasis, the author takes us on a successful journey through his wide range of production without showing a single digital drawing or final documentation.
02 – Saleeha Asla
About the portfolio
Saleeha Asla is an architect from India with several years of professional experience, both in small and in international firms. This portfolio comprises 7 projects in which she worked on.
Typologies go from collective residential to institutional, passing by individual housing and interior design.
Why we like it
Like a design magazine, this portfolio highlights the strengths of the author in her collaboration in each project. A balanced mixture of renders, plans and diagrams that demonstrate proper architectural and technical skills for a wide variety of commissions.
A specialization in interior design is enhanced at the end of the publication.
03 – Greg Gettman
About the portfolio
Greg Gettman is an architect graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2013. This selection of 6 projects shows his 5-year experience working for Steven Ginn Architects. From furniture design to construction details, his portfolio highlights his flexibility as a professional.
Why we like it
It goes straight to the point: generally, a picture of the project anticipates the actual contributions of the author. These are profoundly documented, with drawings of details and photographs. The selected projects show a wide variety of design problems solved successfully.
04 – Akarshan Chauhan
About the portfolio
Akarshan Chauhan is a New Delhi based architect, working for Creative Design Architects. The way in which he divides the portfolio is not only by projects, but also by type of work.
In that way, it comprises four sections: architecture & design (with two big scale projects), façade design, working drawings and CGI & walkthroughs.
Why we like it
The approach is extremely systematic and easy to read. By not separating work necessarily by projects, the author allows himself to emphasize his skills in a clear way. The graphic style is consistent and coherent with the work presented.
05 – Cahyo Priambodo
About the portfolio
Cahyo Priambodo is a practicing architect graduated from the Universitas Sebelas Maret, in Surakarta, Indonesia. He works as a freelance architect at Stustudiodio. His portfolio is comprised of 5 professional projects and 1 contest submission.
Why we like it
With a clear, sober and methodical layout, the author shows us his intervention in the presented projects in
an understandable yet impacting way. In the abundance of diagrams and iterative drawings, you can read he’s obsessive about systematization. The variety of the projects showcased is also a proof of his flexibility as an architect.
Finding other examples and sources of inspiration
Since the best way to create something new is doing research on what’s already been done, here’s a list of some of the best places to find inspiration and reference:
Behance
Behance, as an Adobe company, is the default online site for creative professions portfolios. Here you’ll be able to find not only architecture samples, but also graphic and industrial design, animation, illustration and anything related to visual culture.
That’s why it’s a good place to search with an open mind, knowing that you can also draw valuable lessons from other disciplines.
Issuu
Issuu works as an online collection of open publications. Lots of architects and architecture students use it to upload their portfolios, so a quick search for them will give you several results.
As a professional social networking platform, LinkedIn holds in each profile the possibility of uploading a portfolio. Therefore, it is a good idea to take a peek at how your colleagues or architects you look up to decided to showcase their work.
Always remember to compare the quality of their production with their educational and professional trajectory.
Books & periodicals
More than often, editorial strategies for presenting the work of certain architects are an amazing place to find reference for your portfolio.
Some physic magazines you could check if you have the chance of buying or getting access through the library are El Croquis, GA and Domus. More easily accessible, you also have online platforms like ArchDaily and Divisare.
Another avenue is to also review books that highlight the work of a specific architect, for example.
RIBA Presidents Medals
The RIBA Presidents Medals are one of the most prestigious architectural students awards in the world. It awards selected projects of students from several invited institutions.
As such, it would be smart to take a look at the last years winner’s projects that are displayed on its website to analyse how they succeeded at showcasing their work.
University and college open days and exhibitions.
Sometimes, institutions open their doors for the community to see the work of their students. This is a perfect opportunity to get a glance of tons of different visual strategies used by peers and colleagues to present their architectural projects.
Most importantly, you can also hear the comments of the jury about the effectiveness of their decisions.
To sum up…
It is important for an architecture portfolio to be well-organized and clearly present the key and best work of the applicant.
It should showcase the applicant’s skills and knowledge starting from a project’s inception all the way through to construction, including site analysis, design development, various graphic and presentation techniques, plan, elevation and sectional drawings, and construction knowledge and model making.
In addition to architectural work, it can be beneficial to include related work such as graphic design and personal pursuits such as photography and design competition entries to show that the applicant is well-rounded and knowledgeable.
A consistent graphic and presentation technique can also help to tie the portfolio together.
When selecting projects to include, it is important to choose a variety of relevant projects that demonstrate the applicant’s skills and interests.
