About Us - Kytherion Forge Quint Architecture

The Story Behind the Forge

Look, we started this thing back in 2008 when everyone thought the economy was falling apart. Maybe it was a bit crazy, but here's the deal - we were tired of seeing the same cookie-cutter buildings going up everywhere.

Steel and glass became our thing not because it's trendy, but because there's something honest about it. You can't hide bad design behind ornate facades when you're working with raw materials. Every weld, every joint, every angle - it's all visible, and that keeps us sharp.

We've grown from three people working out of a converted warehouse to a team that actually knows what they're doing. Still based on Queen West though - wouldn't have it any other way.

How We Actually Think About Design

Function First, Always

A building needs to work before it looks good. We've seen too many "award-winning" designs that are nightmares to actually use. If the people inside aren't comfortable, we haven't done our job right.

Transparency Matters

Not just in our glass choices. We're upfront about costs, timelines, and what's actually possible. No architect-speak, no smoke and mirrors - just straight talk about what we can build together.

Materials Have Stories

Steel comes from somewhere. Glass gets made by real people. When we spec materials, we're thinking about their entire journey - where they come from, how they're made, what happens to them later.

Collaboration Over Ego

We're not those architects who think they know everything. The contractor's got insights. The client knows their needs. Even the person who'll be cleaning the building has valuable input.

The People Making It Happen

Sarah Kytherion

Principal Architect / Founder

The One Who Started This Whole Thing

Sarah's got this thing about steel structures - she'll literally stop mid-conversation to point out interesting beam work. Studied at Waterloo, worked at some big-name firms in Vancouver, then decided corporate architecture wasn't her speed.

She's the type who'll show up at construction sites at 6 AM just to make sure the steel connections are being done right. Sometimes drives the contractors a bit nuts, but they respect it. Won a few awards that sit in a box somewhere because she's not big on displaying that stuff.

When she's not obsessing over building details, you'll find her at salvage yards looking for materials we can repurpose. Her apartment's basically a museum of architectural fragments she's collected over the years.

Marcus Forge

Principal Architect / Co-Founder

The Technical Brain

Marcus is probably the only person I know who reads structural engineering journals for fun. He's got this background in industrial design that makes him think differently about how buildings go together - less about making things pretty, more about making them work elegantly.

He's the guy who'll spend three hours figuring out a connection detail that could save two days of construction time. The interns think he's a bit intense until they realize he's actually trying to make their lives easier down the road.

Came from a family of welders in Hamilton, which explains why he can actually read fabrication drawings better than most contractors. That hands-on knowledge is pretty rare in architecture these days, and it shows in how buildable our designs actually are.

Elena Quint

Design Director / Partner

The Space Whisperer

Elena joined us about six years back and basically transformed how we think about interiors. She's got this weird ability to walk through an empty building and just know how people are gonna move through it. Not in some mystical way - she's just really good at observing human behavior.

Before architecture, she studied psychology, which explains a lot. She's constantly asking questions like "but how will someone feel when they walk in here at 8 AM on a Monday?" Keeps us grounded when we get too caught up in the technical stuff.

She's also the one who pushes back when a design isn't working. Sarah and Marcus respect that honesty - we all do. Too many firms are afraid of that kind of direct feedback, but that's how you end up with mediocre buildings.

How We Got Here

2008

Started in a Warehouse

Sarah and Marcus rented 800 square feet in Parkdale. First project was a residential renovation that went way over budget but taught us everything about what not to do. Client's still happy with it though, which counts for something.

2011

First Commercial Build

Landed a small office building in Liberty Village. It wasn't massive, but it was ours from concept to completion. Learned real quick that commercial work involves about 10 times more paperwork than residential. Still worth it.

2014

The Project That Changed Things

Got commissioned for a mixed-use building in Leslieville. It was ambitious, probably too ambitious, but we pulled it off. That's when people started taking us seriously. Also when we realized we needed more than three people on staff.

2017

Elena Joins as Partner

Brought Elena on board full-time. She'd been consulting with us for a year and it just made sense. Her addition shifted our whole approach to interior spaces - we went from thinking about buildings to thinking about experiences.

2019

Sustainability Becomes Priority

Started really digging into sustainable practices. Not just slapping solar panels on roofs and calling it green - actual lifecycle analysis, material sourcing, the whole deal. It made projects more complicated but way more meaningful.

2022

New Studio Space

Moved to our current spot on Queen West. Designed it ourselves, obviously. It's basically a showcase for how we think about adaptive reuse - took an old printing facility and turned it into something that actually works for a modern design practice.

2024

Where We're At Now

Team of 18, mix of architects, designers, and support staff. Working on projects across Ontario and starting to get inquiries from further out. Still feel like we're figuring it out as we go, which honestly keeps things interesting.

What It's Like Working With Us

Honestly? It's pretty collaborative, maybe more than you'd expect. We're not gonna present you with one perfect design and expect you to just accept it. That's not how good architecture happens.

We'll ask a lot of questions at first - probably more than seems necessary. But we've learned that understanding how you actually live or work is way more important than jumping straight to pretty renderings. Those come later, once we've figured out what you really need.

There'll be site visits, lots of them. We'll probably drag you to look at materials in person because screens don't show how steel actually weathers or how light moves through different types of glass. Some clients find it intensive, but most end up appreciating it.

And yeah, we'll push back sometimes if we think something's not gonna work. But we'll explain why, and we're open to being proven wrong. It's your building at the end of the day - we're just here to make sure it's the best version of what you're imagining.

Let's Talk About Your Project