The challenge
Meridian was quietly doing some of the most considered residential and cultural work in the region. Their website, by contrast, looked like every other architecture portfolio: a hero slideshow, a services list, and a grid of thumbnails. Nothing that matched the care they put into the buildings themselves.
The brief: a website that feels like walking through one of their spaces — measured, generous, and precise.
The approach
We built the site around three decisions that set the tone.
First — large-format photography as the primary voice. Images get full viewport width. Copy stays lean. The work does most of the talking.
Second — editorial pacing. No carousels, no pop-ups, no newsletter modals. Projects unfold chronologically with plenty of air between them. The reader controls the tempo.
Third — a custom type system. A single serif for display and a neo-grotesque for supporting text. No decorative flourishes. The typography itself is the ornament.
We also built a lightweight CMS so the studio could add new projects without a developer in the loop — essential for a team that ships new work every few months.
The result
Within the first quarter post-launch, qualified project inquiries more than doubled. But the more interesting signal was the kind of inquiries: fewer "how much for a website" requests, more detailed messages from people who had clearly read the site top-to-bottom before reaching out.
The design language now extends beyond the web — the studio uses the same typographic system on printed proposals and site boards.