About Us - Kyron Valen Quinthos Architecture

How This All Started

Back in 2011, I was sitting in a soulless condo tower somewhere in the downtown core, watching another heritage building get demolished across the street. That's when it hit me – we're building the wrong stuff, in the wrong way, for all the wrong reasons.

So I left the corporate firm I'd been grinding at for seven years and started KVQ with a simple idea: what if residential architecture actually gave a damn about the people living in it AND the planet we're all stuck on together?

Turns out, I wasn't alone in thinking this way. Sarah joined a few months in, bringing her obsession with passive house design. Then Marcus came aboard with his urban planning brain that somehow makes density feel human. Now we're a team of twelve – architects, designers, engineers, and one very opinionated cat named Blueprint who's terrible at zoning compliance.

We've designed over 180 residential projects across Ontario, earned a bunch of LEED certifications that look nice on our wall, and probably annoyed a few developers along the way by refusing to cut corners. Worth it.

– Kyron Valen Quinthos, Principal Architect

What We Actually Believe In

No fancy manifestos here. Just the stuff that guides every decision we make, from site selection to doorknob placement.

Buildings Should Breathe

Seriously, we're done with sealed boxes that need mechanical systems running 24/7 just to feel livable. Natural ventilation, proper orientation, thermal mass – this isn't rocket science, it's just good design that somehow got forgotten during the cheap construction boom.

Context Matters More Than Style

We're not bringing glass and steel modernist boxes to Victorian neighborhoods just because it's trendy. Every site has a story, a microclimate, a community around it. Our job's to listen first, design second.

Density Doesn't Mean Depressing

Toronto needs more housing, yeah, but cramming people into poorly-designed units isn't the answer. We've proven you can do mid-rise residential that's dense, sustainable, AND actually pleasant to live in. It just takes giving a damn.

Heritage Buildings Deserve Better

Adaptive reuse isn't just some buzzword we throw around at conferences. Old buildings have embodied energy, craftsmanship, and character you literally can't replicate. Plus, they're already built – the most sustainable building is the one that already exists.

The Humans Behind the Drawings

We're a mixed bag of introverts who love buildings way too much. Everyone here's got their OAA registration, LEED credentials, and at least one strong opinion about window-to-wall ratios that'll bore you at parties.

But here's what actually matters: we've got a building scientist who can calculate heat loss in their sleep, a heritage specialist who's saved four buildings from demolition, two registered interior designers who understand that sustainability extends inside the walls, and urban planners who've actually lived in the dense neighborhoods they're designing for.

We do monthly site visits together because you can't design good buildings from behind a screen, we argue constantly about material choices (in a productive way, mostly), and we've turned down projects that didn't align with our values. Small studio, big standards.

The Boring But Important Stuff

Look, we've got the certifications because they matter – LEED Accredited Professionals, Passive House Consultants, OAA members in good standing, all that jazz. But honestly? The real credentials are the clients who've lived in our buildings for five years and still email us photos of their sun-drenched living rooms.

14+ Years

Designing residential projects that don't suck

180+ Projects

From laneway houses to mixed-use developments

42 LEED Certifications

Including 8 Platinum projects we're stupidly proud of

12 Team Members

All obsessive, most caffeinated, one cat

We're Not Your Typical Suits