16 Architecture Writing Prompts for More Effective Project Narratives

I firmly believe that writing a strategic narrative is the best and quickest thing you can do to advance your architecture or design practice.

There are 6 main types of strategic narratives that I help clients craft, but the one I’ve written the most is the project narrative. 

I’ve written hundreds of project narratives and I’ve helped dozens of architects and AEC marketers write their own. Over and over, I hear the same problem when I first start working with someone: I don’t know what to say.

What happens when you don’t know what to say? Well, you might never say anything. You might just put it off and put it off and never get around to it. Or maybe you say too much and overwhelm the reader/prospective client with a disorganized onslaught of ideas that don’t resonate with them. Or perhaps, and we’ll surely get to this in a later post, you just start listing facts and features that no one except you really cares about.

So how do you figure out what to say? Well, I have an entire process I use to craft narratives so I —and my clients—always know what to say about their work. You can download part of that process at the bottom of this post. But in this space, I just wanted to share some quick inspiration to get your creative wheels turning.

These prompts can help you if you’re an architect or an architecture student writing about your own work or if you’re on the marketing team. You can use these prompts to ask the design team questions that will get you the information you need — the information your prospective clients actually want to know.

16 Architecture Writing Prompts

1. What was the client’s goal with this project? 

2. What’s most important to the client? 

3. What problems was the client having? 

4. Is what they think they need and what they actually need the same thing? 

5. Why did the client select your firm to do this project?

6. What relevant experience or expertise do you have? 

7. Beyond “listening,” how did you involve the client and other stakeholders in the design process?

8. What major challenges did you have to overcome?

9. What is the building’s relationship to the immediate site?

10. What is the building’s relationship to the broader context? The architectural, environmental, and cultural contexts? 

11. What materials are used in the building? Why were the selected/ 

12. How does the project engage the senses and connect people to place?  

13. How do the building’s features resolve specific pain points the client was experiencing?

14. Do any of the building’s features create new behaviors or opportunities?

15. How has this project transformed the client’s life or business?

16. What are the future implications for the client, community, and environment? 

To see the full list of prompts and get more insight into crafting compelling project narratives, click here to download our FREE guide to Strategic Project Narratives.

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