Halvarion Thalquinth
Founder & Principal Architect
M.Arch, AIBC, LEED AP BD+C
How It Started
You know, I didn't set out to build some fancy empire. Started sketching buildings on napkins during my time in Oslo, watching how those old Nordic masters balanced function with beauty without making a big deal about it.
Founded the studio back in 2011 after spending way too many years working for firms that treated heritage buildings like they're disposable. Vancouver needed someone who actually gave a damn about the bones of a place - not just slapping on some trendy facade and calling it restoration.
My grandfather was a carpenter in Bergen, and he'd always say the best buildings whisper rather than shout. That stuck with me. So when I'm designing, whether it's a new build or restoring something that's been around since the 1900s, I'm thinking about how it'll age, how it'll breathe, how people will actually live in it thirty years from now.
The whole sustainable design thing? That's not some marketing angle for us. Growing up in Scandinavia, you learn pretty quick that working against nature is a losing game. We've been integrating passive solar design, natural ventilation, and local materials since day one - long before it was trendy to plaster "green building" all over your website.
What Drives Us
Here's the thing - architecture isn't about ego. It's about creating spaces that make sense for the people using them, respecting what came before, and not screwing things up for whoever comes after.
We're a small team, and that's intentional. Means I'm still involved in every project, still meeting clients, still getting my hands dirty with the details. Some firms scale up and lose their soul. Not interested in that trajectory.
The Team Behind the Drafts
We're currently eleven people - architects, designers, restoration specialists, and one extremely organized project manager who keeps us all from missing deadlines. Everyone here has worked on heritage projects and actually cares about craft. No fresh grads looking to pad their portfolio and bounce - people stick around because the work matters.
We've got folks who trained in Copenhagen, Montreal, and right here in Vancouver. That mix of perspectives keeps things interesting, and honestly, the debates around the drafting table get pretty heated sometimes. That's healthy though.
