About Us - Zephyr on Forge Quint Architects

Our Story Started with a Rusted Beam

Back in 2011, Marcus found this old steel beam at a demolition site in Liberty Village - the thing had been holding up a textile factory since 1897. Most folks would've tossed it in the scrap pile, but he saw something else entirely. That beam became the foundation for what we do here.

We're not your typical architecture firm, honestly. Sure, we've got the LEED certifications and the structural engineering know-how, but what really gets us going is finding that sweet spot where industrial grit meets sustainable design. It's about respecting what came before while building for what's coming next.

The name? Well, 'Zephyr' represents the fresh wind of innovation we bring to every project, and 'Forge' is pretty literal - we're hammering out solutions that blend old-world craftsmanship with modern environmental consciousness. The 'Quint' part came from our five founding principles, but that's a story for another time.

The Timeline - How We Got Here

2011

The Beginning

Marcus Quint opens a tiny studio above a coffee roastery on King West. First project? Converting an old forge into live-work lofts. Client budget was tight, timeline was tighter, but we pulled it off.

2013

Heritage Breakthrough

Landed the Gooderham & Worts restoration contract - our first major heritage project. Spent three months just researching the original construction techniques. Got our hands dirty, learned a ton about 19th-century masonry work.

2016

Team Expansion

Brought on Elena Vasquez (structural engineering genius) and James Chen (sustainability wizard). Studio moved to our current digs at 142 King Street West. Finally had room to spread out our drafting tables.

2019

LEED Platinum

Completed the Junction Industrial Park - got LEED Platinum certification and a Governor General's Medal nomination. That project put us on the map for sustainable industrial design across Canada.

2023

Today & Tomorrow

We're now a team of 18, working on projects from Vancouver to Halifax. Still obsessed with finding creative ways to preserve industrial heritage while pushing sustainable design forward. Still learning something new on every site.

Meet the Founders

Marcus Quint, Principal Architect

Marcus grew up in Hamilton watching the steel mills from his bedroom window. His dad worked at Stelco for 30 years, so industrial spaces are kinda in his blood. After getting his M.Arch from U of T, he spent five years at a corporate firm doing glass-box condos before realizing that wasn't his scene.

What really drives Marcus is the challenge of making old industrial buildings relevant again. He's got this thing about materiality - you'll often find him at salvage yards on weekends, hunting for reclaimed timber or vintage fixtures. He believes every building has a story, and our job isn't to erase it but to write the next chapter.

When he's not sketching or on-site, Marcus teaches a seminar on adaptive reuse at Ryerson. He's also weirdly into blacksmithing - there's a small forge in his garage where he makes custom hardware for some of our heritage projects.

Heritage Restoration Industrial Design Urban Renewal

Elena Vasquez, Lead Structural Engineer

Elena joined us in 2016 after working on bridge projects across Ontario. She's got her P.Eng and a reputation for solving problems that make other engineers nervous. There was this one project where we needed to remove a load-bearing wall in a 1920s warehouse - everyone said it couldn't be done. Elena figured it out in about three days.

What's cool about Elena is she doesn't just run the numbers - she thinks about the building as a living thing. She'll walk a site for hours, looking at how the structure's aged, where the stress points are, how the original builders intended it to work. It's part science, part detective work.

She's originally from Montreal and still hasn't forgiven us for the Leafs-Habs rivalry. Outside work, Elena's really into rock climbing, which she says helps her visualize structural loads in three dimensions. Makes sense if you think about it.

Structural Engineering Load Analysis Seismic Design

James Chen, Sustainability Director

James came to us from Vancouver where he was doing green building consulting. He's LEED AP certified and knows more about building envelopes and thermal bridging than anyone I've ever met. The guy can spot an air leak from across a room - it's actually kind of impressive and slightly terrifying.

What makes James different is he's not a sustainability purist. He gets that heritage work means compromise sometimes, and he's really good at finding creative solutions that honor the building's history while improving performance. Like when we did that brick warehouse conversion - he designed a whole interior insulation system that didn't touch the original masonry.

James is also our go-to person for navigating the certification process, whether it's LEED, Passive House, or local green building programs. He's patient with the paperwork in a way the rest of us definitely aren't. When he's not crunching energy models, he's probably on his bike - the man commutes year-round, even through Canadian winters.

LEED Certification Energy Modeling Green Building

How We Actually Work

Look, we could talk about our "collaborative process" and "client-centered approach" but that stuff's pretty standard, right? Here's what actually happens when you work with us:

First, we spend a lot of time just listening and looking. We'll walk your site multiple times, dig into the building's history, understand what you're actually trying to achieve (not just what you think you should say). We've learned that the best solutions usually come from really understanding the constraints.

Then comes the part where we sketch. A lot. We're old-school about this - sure, we use BIM and all the digital tools, but nothing beats pencil on paper for working through ideas quickly. You'll see rough drawings, maybe some quick models, lots of options to react to.

Throughout the project, we're on-site constantly. Not just for the scheduled reviews, but because that's where you catch the details that make or break a project. Our team knows the trades we work with, and they know us. It makes a difference when problems come up - and they always do.

Want to Work Together?

We're always up for a good challenge, especially if it involves old buildings and new ideas.

Get In Touch