Design7 min read•
Secure collaboration for architecture and design firms
Huge files, external consultants, competition entries and client confidentiality — how to collaborate without leaving readable copies across three products.
Try it in one click.
Three private surfaces. Same zero-knowledge architecture.
The specific shape of the problem Architecture and design practices combine very large files, many external collaborators, long project lifespans and genuinely confidential material: competition entries, unannounced developments, security-relevant plans and client identities that are themselves sensitive.
Why the usual stack leaks A typical practice runs a mainstream cloud drive, a readable chat product, a consumer transfer service for the files too big for either, and email for everything else. A single drawing set can exist in four places, three of them readable by their providers, one of them with a permanent public link created two years ago.
Four changes that remove most of the exposure 1. **One encrypted project space per project**, with keys sealed per member — consultants included, and rotated when they leave. 2. **Protected links instead of transfer services**: passphrase, expiry, view budget, watermark, revocation, and uploads that resume instead of failing at 90%. 3. **Encrypted channels for project discussion**, so the reasoning, dates and client names are not in a readable archive. 4. **Continuous encrypted mirroring of local working folders**, so a ransomware event or a lost workstation is a restore rather than a lost month.
Security-relevant drawings deserve special handling Plans of schools, hospitals, embassies, data centres and private residences are sensitive for physical-security reasons, not merely commercial ones. Those sets belong in view-only, watermarked distribution with short expiry — and in a system where the hosting provider itself cannot open them.
Competitions and unannounced projects Renders leak because they are beautiful and because they travel through many hands: visualisers, PR, printers, model makers. One link per recipient with a per-viewer watermark turns an anonymous leak into an attributable one, which changes behaviour long before anyone has to act on it.
Long project lifespans need retention discipline Ten-year projects accumulate former staff, former consultants and forgotten links. Two habits fix it: an annual review of every project space's membership and live links, and offboarding that rotates keys the day someone leaves.
Performance is a security feature If uploading a 12 GB model to the sanctioned tool is slower than a consumer service, the consumer service wins on the day of the deadline. Chunked, resumable, verified uploads are what keep the secure path the fast path — and the fast path is the one people use.
Try it in one click.
Three private surfaces. Same zero-knowledge architecture.