Our Story, Your Space
Building dreams with honesty, creativity, and a whole lot of coffee
Look, we didn't start out trying to save the world or anything that grand. Back in 2012, it was just Elena and Marcus sitting in a cramped co-working space on Granville, sketching ideas on napkins and arguing about whether concrete could ever be considered beautiful. Spoiler: it can be, when done right.
What really got us going wasn't some grand mission statement - it was frustration, honestly. We kept seeing buildings go up that looked great in photos but felt disconnected from their surroundings. Structures that ignored Vancouver's climate, its history, the way people actually live and move through spaces. That bothered us.
Fast forward to now, and we've got a team of twelve passionate folks who genuinely care about making buildings that work WITH their environment instead of against it. We're not perfect, but we're learning every single day.
We're a collection of coffee addicts, sketch enthusiasts, and stubborn problem-solvers
Principal Architect & Design Director
Elena's the one who'll fight you over window placement - and she's usually right, annoyingly enough. Trained at UBC and spent five years in Copenhagen learning how they make those impossibly livable spaces. She's obsessed with how light moves through buildings and has this uncanny ability to know exactly where you'll want to sit with your morning coffee. When she's not redesigning everything, she's probably hiking the North Shore trails or perfecting her sourdough starter.
Favorite project: The Kitsilano Community Center restoration - "We saved those 1920s beams and people actually cried at the opening."
Principal Architect & Sustainability Lead
Marcus is the numbers guy who somehow makes energy modeling sound exciting at parties (okay, architecture parties). He's got his LEED AP certification and actually reads building science journals for fun. Before co-founding Ignis Thalquora, he worked on some massive commercial projects that taught him exactly what NOT to do. Now he's all about passive house principles and figuring out how to make buildings perform better without breaking budgets. He's also the only person in the office who can fix the espresso machine.
Favorite project: That net-zero office building in Richmond - "Everyone said it couldn't be done at that price point. Proved 'em wrong."
Heritage Specialist
Former museum curator turned architect. She's the reason our heritage restorations actually respect the original character instead of turning everything into fake Victorian nonsense.
Project Manager
The guy who keeps our projects from turning into construction nightmares. Somehow stays calm when contractors call at 6am about supply chain issues.
Interior Design Lead
Has an almost supernatural ability to source sustainable materials that don't look like they came from a hemp store. Makes spaces feel like home.
Twelve years of learning, building, and occasionally messing up
Elena and Marcus quit their corporate gigs, rented that tiny office on Granville, and started taking on anyone who'd trust two architects with more passion than sense. First project: a garage conversion. Hey, everyone starts somewhere.
Won the competition for the East Van Community Hub. Nobody was more surprised than us. That project taught us that sustainable doesn't mean expensive - it means thinking differently from the start.
Hired our first employees, moved to the current studio space, and learned that managing a team is way harder than designing buildings. Also learned we needed better coffee. Much better coffee.
Got our LEED credentials sorted properly and won a Lieutenant Governor's Award for that Kitsilano restoration. Started getting calls from clients who actually cared about sustainability, not just green-washing.
You know what happened. Like everyone, we figured out Zoom real quick. But we also discovered that pandemic living made people rethink their spaces in ways that aligned perfectly with what we'd been preaching about natural light and ventilation.
That Richmond office building proved we could do commercial projects without compromising on sustainability. Now we're juggling both residential and commercial work, which keeps things interesting.
Team of twelve, dozens of projects in various stages, and we're still learning every day. Still arguing about details. Still drinking way too much coffee. Still believing that good architecture can make life better without costing the earth.
We're not for everyone, and that's okay. We work best with clients who care about the long game - buildings that'll perform well for decades, not just look good in next month's Instagram post.
If you're cool with honest conversations (sometimes we'll tell you your ideas need rethinking), genuinely interested in sustainability, and patient with the design process, we'll probably get along great.
We're taking on new projects and always up for interesting challenges. Coffee's on us for the first meeting.
Let's Talk About Your Project