.archi Domain
The Verified Domain for Architects
Register your .archi domain from just £83.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
The .archi domain is restricted to verified architecture professionals, backed by the International Union of Architects. You may be asked to prove your credentials, and the registry can refuse registrations that fail verification. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .archi domain?
The .archi domain is a community extension backed by the International Union of Architects, and it is one of the few extensions with a real eligibility rule behind it. Registration runs through UIA membership: you belong to a UIA member section, or you employ someone who does, or you are on the registry's list of schools, museums and architectural press. Note that this is a different list from national statutory registration, so a UK architect on the ARB register is not automatically eligible. Check your own membership before ordering.
Who should register .archi?
Registered architects, architectural practices, landscape architects, and urban design studios.
Why choose .archi?
- Eligibility tied to UIA membership
- Backed by the International Union of Architects
- Built-in credibility over open TLDs
- Concise and professional address
Who runs .archi, and since when
Registry data from the .archi delegation record held by IANA, which maintains the internet's root zone. Eligibility comes from the registry's own policy, and the prices are ours.
- Extension type
- Generic (gTLD)
- Registry operator
- Identity Digital Limited
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 2014
- Delegated 20 March 2014
- Who can register
- Restricted to UIA member architects, firms employing them, and listed schools and press
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £83.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
How .archi verifies architects through the UIA
Almost every extension on this site is open to anyone. .archi is one of the few that is not, and the restriction is not marketing: it is written into Specification 12 of the registry agreement with ICANN, the section reserved for community based extensions. Identity Digital runs it, and is bound to a policy it cannot quietly drop.
The test keys on the International Union of Architects. You qualify as an architect who is a member of the UIA, as a firm or company employing one or more UIA member architects, or by appearing on a list of architecture schools, museums and professional press drawn up by the extension's policy advisory committee with the UIA and its member sections. Participation has to be certified when you apply, and the registry commits to random quarterly checks on a sample of registrants afterwards, using public information such as your own website plus authentication of UIA membership.
Note what the rule does not key on. UK statutory registration as an architect sits with the Architects Registration Board under the Architects Act 1997, and that is a different list from UIA membership. Being lawfully entitled to call yourself an architect in Britain is not, by itself, the thing .archi checks.
Who is allowed to register .archi?
Only verifiable participants in architecture may hold a .archi, and eligibility is tested at registration and re-checked afterwards on a sample basis.
- Four ways to qualify
- Specification 12 of the .archi registry agreement sets out the criteria: an architect who is a member of the International Union of Architects; an architecture firm employing one or more UIA member architects; a company or association employing one or more UIA member architects; or an organisation appearing on a list of architecture schools, museums and professional press agreed between the registry and the UIA. Meeting any one of the four is enough.
- UIA membership, not national registration
- The test is membership of the UIA through one of its national member sections, which is a different list from your own country's statutory register. In the UK, the right to practise under the title architect is governed by the Architects Act 1997 and administered by the Architects Registration Board. Check which UIA member body you belong to before you order, rather than assuming your professional registration covers it.
- Certified when you order
- Participation in architecture has to be certified at the point you apply for or register the name, and accepting the registration policy is part of placing the order. You are making a statement about your standing, not ticking a marketing box.
- Re-checked after registration
- The registry commits to ongoing verification for the life of the registration, in principle through random quarterly checks on a sample of registrants. It uses public information such as the content of your own website, together with authentication of UIA membership through a member section. It also operates a complaints contact, so a competitor can raise a query about your eligibility.
- If you do not qualify
- Where a check or a complaint raises doubt, the registry may place the domain on hold and ask you to supply proof within a reasonable period. If no proof or insufficient proof arrives, it may revoke the name outright, and it reserves the right to inform the public that the domain was used contrary to the registration policy. A revoked domain takes the website and the email with it.
Rules taken from the .archi registry agreement at ICANN (Specification 12). Registry policy can change, so check before you buy if the answer matters to you.
Not sure whether you qualify? Ask us before you order and we will check the registry rules with you. We would rather answer the question than take an order the registry will refuse.
Is .archi the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.archi works well if
- You are a UIA member architect or a practice employing one, and you want an address that a peer recognises immediately as verified rather than bought.
- You compete for work against firms with generic domains, and a filter your rivals cannot pass is worth paying for.
- You are an architecture school, museum or professional publication on the list agreed between the registry and the UIA.
Look elsewhere if
- You cannot evidence UIA membership. The eligibility check runs after registration as well as before it, so an unsupportable claim buys you a domain that can be put on hold and revoked.
- Most of your work comes from UK clients searching locally. A .co.uk carries a UK signal that .archi does not, and costs a small fraction of it every year.
- You have to say it aloud to clients. Archi is not a complete word, and people hear archie, arki or ask you to spell it.
Winning work from UK homeowners and local developers? Register the .co.uk first and add the .archi as the professional address. See .co.uk pricing.
.archi vs .co.uk: which should you register?
These do opposite jobs and a working practice usually wants both. A .co.uk tells Google and a homeowner in Kettering that you are a British business, which is what wins domestic work. A .archi tells another architect that somebody checked your standing before the name was allocated, which is what carries weight on a shortlist or in a professional directory.
Price is not close. A .archi costs roughly eight times a .co.uk each year, so treat it as a professional credential you are renewing rather than as a domain. The usual arrangement is a .co.uk as the primary site holding your email and your search visibility, with the .archi redirecting to it and appearing on the letterhead where it will be read by people who know what it means.
.archi domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .archi domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyNo. .archi is a community extension under Specification 12 of its ICANN registry agreement, and eligibility is limited to verifiable participants in architecture: UIA member architects, firms or companies employing them, and listed architecture schools, museums and professional press. You certify your standing when you order, and the registry re-checks a sample of registrants after registration. It is one of very few extensions where a wrong answer at the order stage can cost you the domain later.
Not automatically, because the two are separate lists. Registration with the Architects Registration Board under the Architects Act 1997 governs your right to practise under the title architect in the UK. The .archi rule keys on membership of the International Union of Architects through one of its national member sections. Most practising UK architects belong to a body that is a UIA member section, but check yours before ordering rather than assuming the ARB register is what the registry reads.
It can put the domain on hold while it asks you for proof, and revoke it if satisfactory proof does not arrive within a reasonable period. The registry also reserves the right to state publicly that a domain was used contrary to its registration policy. A revoked name stops resolving, so the website goes down and the email stops with it. If there is any doubt about your eligibility, keep a .co.uk running underneath so a revocation costs you a redirect rather than your business address.
Included with Your .archi Domain
DNS Management
Full DNS zone editor to manage A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and all record types.
Email Forwarding
Set up professional email addresses and forward to any inbox.
Auto-Renewal
Never lose your domain with automatic renewal protection.
Free 10GB Mailbox
One 10GB mailbox (POP3/IMAP) included with every domain, on any TLD.
Other Professional Domains Extensions
Register your .archi domain today
Secure your .archi domain from just £83.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
