Project Overview
Arch Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne's CBD, representing emerging and mid-career artists across painting, sculpture, and digital media. They needed a digital home that matched the ambition of the work they show — a site where art is the hero and everything else gets out of the way.
The Challenge
Gallery websites tend to compromise: either they look stunning but load slowly (destroying the art viewing experience), or they're fast but visually forgettable. Art deserves better. The site also needed to handle large, high-resolution images without degrading performance.
Our Solution
We built a headless architecture using Astro with a custom CMS integration. Every image passes through an optimisation pipeline — correctly sized, lazy-loaded, and served in next-gen formats. Page transitions use a custom GSAP clip-path reveal so navigating between works feels like turning gallery pages. The layout is intentionally restrained: dark backgrounds, generous white space, and typography that steps back.
The Outcome
Load times dropped 70% from their previous WordPress site. Average session time increased by 3 minutes. Online enquiries for represented artists increased by 45% in the first quarter post-launch.
