Fabric for architecture studios

An architecture project's reference library is enormous before anyone picks up a pencil. Site photographs, precedent studies, material samples, regulation documents, planning briefs, competition entries, sketches, client requirements, consultant reports, and everything the team has ever saved that might be relevant. Most studios keep this across a file server nobody can navigate, a shared drive with a decade of inconsistent folder naming, a few personal Pinterest boards, and the hard drives of whoever worked on the last project that touched similar territory. The material exists. The ability to find it, especially visually, does not.

Fabric gives architecture studios a searchable library where every reference, drawing, document, and photograph is findable by visual similarity, colour, and meaning, with a canvas for spatial thinking and controlled sharing for client presentations and planning submissions.

Visual search across your entire archive

Architecture is a visual discipline, and its references resist text search. You're looking for "that brick detail from the Copenhagen project" or "precedent studies with similar massing to what we're proposing," and no filename or folder structure will help. The reference you need is defined by what it looks like, not what someone called it.

Fabric's AI search finds images, drawings, and documents by visual similarity, colour, and meaning. Drop in a reference image and find everything visually similar across every project the studio has ever worked on. Search by a material colour to pull every reference in that palette. Describe what you're looking for in plain language and find it across photographs, PDFs, sketches, and documents.

Similar search and explorer go further, surfacing unexpected connections between references saved across projects and years. A precedent study from a competition five years ago surfaces when it's relevant to the project you're starting today.

Precedent studies and moodboards on canvas

The design phase of an architecture project lives in spatial thinking: arranging precedents, comparing massing studies, laying out material palettes, mapping site constraints alongside design responses. Linear documents don't serve this kind of work.

The canvas is an infinite spatial workspace where the team can arrange photographs, drawings, documents, notes, and embeds side by side. Build precedent boards by dragging references from the studio's library onto the canvas. Compare site photos against design proposals. Map out a presentation sequence for a client meeting. The canvas supports real-time collaboration with multiplayer cursors, so the whole design team can work on the same surface.

Because the canvas draws from the studio's Fabric library, building a precedent board means searching and arranging material you've already collected rather than re-importing from scattered drives.

Annotate drawings, plans, and documents

Architecture review happens on the drawings. Comments about a floor plan need to be pinned to the spot on the plan they refer to, not described in an email as "the area near the stairwell on level three."

Annotations let the team and clients mark up directly on plans, elevations, sections, renders, PDFs, and any other document. Pin comments, questions, and notes to the exact location on the drawing. The feedback is spatial and specific, matching how architects actually think about their work. Annotations are searchable, so a note made on a drawing three months ago is findable by what it says.

For formal review cycles, the review and approval workflow tracks what's signed off and what needs revision across the project's documents.

Controlled sharing for clients and consultants

Architecture studios share material constantly: with clients during design development, with planning authorities during submissions, with consultants during coordination, with contractors during construction. Each audience needs different material with different levels of access.

Publish any document, drawing set, or presentation as a shareable link with password protection and link analytics. Share a design presentation with the client and see when they've reviewed it. Send planning documents with controlled access. Update a drawing in Fabric and the published link serves the current version automatically.

Create individually named tracking links per recipient, so you know which client stakeholders have reviewed the latest scheme and which consultant has accessed the structural drawings.

Use cases for architecture studios

The workflows architecture studios run in Fabric: building moodboards and precedent boards with visual and colour search, running design projects from concept through delivery with client feedback, brainstorming design ideas on the canvas, managing client work with per-project spaces and tracked sharing, review and approval of drawings and documents with annotations, maintaining project documentation that captures design rationale and decisions, managing the studio's digital asset library of references, photographs, and drawings, conducting research into materials, regulations, and precedents, and capturing meeting notes from client and consultant meetings.

An architecture studio's day in Fabric

Morning. A designer starting a new residential project searches the studio's library for precedent studies with similar site constraints. Visual similarity search surfaces reference photographs from three past projects, including one she'd never seen from before she joined the studio. She drags the best references onto a canvas to start a precedent board.

Mid-morning. The project architect reviews an updated floor plan from a colleague. She annotates directly on the drawing, pinning comments about circulation and a question about the structural grid to the exact spots they refer to. The colleague sees the feedback in context.

Lunch. The team holds a design review. A junior architect records the discussion with voice notes. The transcript lands in the project space, searchable alongside the drawings and notes. When the client later asks "why did we move the entrance," the answer is in the recording.

Afternoon. The studio director prepares for a client presentation. She asks the AI assistant to pull together all the precedent studies, design rationale notes, and key decisions from the project space. She publishes the presentation with a tracked link for each client stakeholder.

End of day. An architect on site photographs material samples and construction details with the mobile app. The photos sync to the project space and are searchable by visual content alongside the rest of the project archive.

Get started

Give your studio one searchable archive where every reference, drawing, and document is findable by what it looks like. Try Fabric free.

See pricing for teams. For creative workflow more broadly, see Fabric for creative teams. For individual designers managing references and projects, see Fabric for designers.

FAQs

Can we search for references by visual similarity?

Yes. Drop in a reference image and Fabric finds everything visually similar across the studio's entire archive. Search by colour, by composition, or by description. Similar search works across photographs, drawings, renders, and any other image format.

Can we build precedent boards in Fabric?

Yes. The canvas is an infinite spatial workspace where you arrange photographs, drawings, notes, and references into precedent boards, material palettes, or presentation sequences. Drag material from the studio's library onto the canvas.

Can we annotate directly on plans and drawings?

Yes. Annotations let the team pin comments, questions, and notes to the exact spot on any drawing, plan, section, render, or PDF. Feedback is spatial, specific, and searchable.

Can clients annotate on our drawings?

Yes. Share a drawing or document and the client can annotate directly on it. The feedback stays attached to the file and is visible to the project team.

Can we share presentations and drawings with clients securely?

Yes. Publish with password protection and link analytics. Create named tracking links per recipient. Update a drawing and the link serves the current version without re-sending.

Can we search across all past projects?

Yes. Search within a specific project space or across the studio's entire library. Find a precedent study from a project five years ago by describing what it looks like or what it was about.

Can we capture site photos and have them searchable?

Yes. Photograph anything on site with the mobile app and the photos sync to the project space. Fabric reads visual content, so site photographs are searchable by what they show.

Can we record and search design review meetings?

Yes. AI voice notes capture and transcribe meetings. The transcript becomes a searchable part of the project record. Find the moment a design decision was discussed by searching what was said.

Can the AI help with design research?

Yes. The AI assistant works from the studio's saved material. Ask it to pull together precedent studies on a building type, summarise planning requirements from saved regulation documents, or find relevant details from past projects.

Can we collaborate in real time on the canvas?

Yes. Real-time collaboration supports multiplayer cursors, follow mode, and threaded comments. The design team can work on the same canvas simultaneously.

What file types does Fabric support?

Images (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG), PDFs, CAD exports, documents, slide decks, video, audio, and any other common file format. All are searchable by content and visual characteristics.

Can we organise projects with different views?

Yes. Use spaces for per-project groupings, kanban boards for tracking project stages, and the canvas for spatial arrangement. Smart organization adds auto-tagging and smart collections.

Is our project data secure?

Yes. Fabric uses AES-256 encryption and is CASA Tier 2 compliant. Access is controlled per space. Client and project material is private by default.

Can we import our existing reference archive?

Yes. Fabric connects to Google Drive and Dropbox. Bring in existing reference libraries, project archives, and asset folders without re-uploading file by file.