Proposed naming convention for MVC areas installed by NuGet

Global.asax.cs

    public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
    {
        protected void Application_Start()
        {
            ...
            ViewEngines.Engines.Clear();
            ViewEngines.Engines.Add(this.GetRazorViewEngine());
        }
 
        private RazorViewEngine GetRazorViewEngine()
        {
            var razor = new RazorViewEngine();
            razor.AreaMasterLocationFormats = AppendInstalledAreaPaths(razor.AreaMasterLocationFormats);
            razor.AreaPartialViewLocationFormats = AppendInstalledAreaPaths(razor.AreaPartialViewLocationFormats);
            razor.AreaViewLocationFormats = AppendInstalledAreaPaths(razor.AreaViewLocationFormats);
            return razor;
        }
 
        private string[] AppendInstalledAreaPaths(string[] original)
        {
            var newPaths = original.Select(path => path.Replace("~/Areas", "~/InstalledAreas"));
            return original.Concat(newPaths).ToArray();
        }
    }

This would probably make a good NuGet package that your installed area could depend on. The code could utilize WebActivator to wire up this behavior in the razor view engine, perhaps something like this?

using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

[assembly: PreApplicationStartMethod(typeof(MvcApplication1.App_Start.ViewConfig), "Start")]

namespace MvcApplication1.App_Start
{
    public class ViewConfig
    {
        public static void Start()
        {
            var razorViewEngine = ViewEngines.Engines.OfType<RazorViewEngine>().FirstOrDefault();

            if (razorViewEngine == null)
            {
                return;
            }

            razorViewEngine.AreaMasterLocationFormats = AppendInstalledAreaPaths(razorViewEngine.AreaMasterLocationFormats);
            razorViewEngine.AreaPartialViewLocationFormats = AppendInstalledAreaPaths(razorViewEngine.AreaPartialViewLocationFormats);
            razorViewEngine.AreaViewLocationFormats = AppendInstalledAreaPaths(razorViewEngine.AreaViewLocationFormats);
        }

        private static string[] AppendInstalledAreaPaths(string[] original)
        {
            var newPaths = original.Select(path => path.Replace("~/Areas", "~/InstalledAreas"));
            return original.Concat(newPaths).ToArray();
        }
    }
}