About Us - Galvryen Forge Quint Architecture

Our Story Started with Rust & Rivets

Back in 2011, our founder Marcus Galvryen was standing in an abandoned railway depot outside Vancouver, and something just clicked. Everyone else saw demolition potential, but he saw bones - good bones that deserved another century or two.

That depot became our first project, and honestly? We learned more from its mistakes than any textbook could've taught us. Industrial spaces have this raw honesty to them - they don't hide their purpose or pretend to be something they're not. We fell in love with that authenticity.

These days, we're still chasing that same feeling. Whether it's breathing life into a 1920s foundry or designing a contemporary office that respects the neighborhood's manufacturing roots, we're all about finding where history and innovation shake hands.

Our Timeline

2011

The Beginning

Started with a single depot renovation and a lot of optimism. Had three employees and one very patient coffee machine.

2014

Heritage Recognition

Won our first heritage preservation award for the Granville Island Cannery project. Started getting calls we didn't have to chase down ourselves.

2017

Team Expansion

Brought in Sarah Quint as partner. Her structural engineering background changed how we approach every project - no more band-aid solutions.

2020

Sustainable Pivot

Launched our green retrofit division. Turns out old buildings can teach new buildings a thing or two about longevity and efficiency.

2025

Today

22 team members, projects across Western Canada, and we still get excited about every brick we save. That depot we started with? Still standing strong.

Meet the Team

Marcus Galvryen

Founding Principal & Lead Designer

Marcus spent his early career doing cookie-cutter residential work and hating every minute of it. The switch to industrial architecture wasn't planned - it was survival instinct kicking in.

He's got this weird ability to walk into a derelict space and immediately see what it wants to become. Sometimes that vision makes sense to the rest of us right away, sometimes it takes a few rounds of sketches and heated discussions over lunch.

When he's not obsessing over load-bearing walls, you'll find him taking his kids on "building adventures" around Vancouver. His daughter can spot a riveted beam from a block away now. We're not sure if that's cool or concerning.

Sarah Quint

Partner & Structural Engineering Lead

Sarah's the reason our ambitious ideas actually stand up - literally. Before joining us, she worked on major infrastructure projects across Canada, but apparently she got tired of building things that looked the same from Calgary to Montreal.

She's got zero patience for shortcuts and a legendary eye for spotting potential problems before they become expensive mistakes. Marcus calls her "The Reality Check." She calls him "The Dreamer." Somehow it works.

Fair warning - if you start talking about adaptive reuse or thermal mass calculations at a party, she won't leave you alone for an hour. Her partner has learned to just bring a book to social events.

James Chen

Heritage Specialist & Project Manager

James joined us straight out of grad school five years ago and we're pretty sure he knows more about Vancouver's industrial history than the city archives at this point. Kid does his homework.

He's the one who'll spend weeks tracking down original construction documents or hunting down the grandson of a factory foreman from 1935 to understand how a building was actually used. That kind of detail work saves us from making dumb assumptions later.

Also makes a mean pot of coffee, which matters more than you'd think during deadline weeks. His specialty? Finding compromise between preservation requirements and modern building codes - not exactly glamorous, but absolutely essential.

Priya Mehta

Sustainability Director

Priya came to us from a big corporate firm where she was designing LEED-certified offices that all looked the same. She wanted to work on projects where sustainability meant more than just checking boxes on a certification form.

Her thing is proving that reusing existing structures is inherently more sustainable than building new - even with all the modern green tech in the world. She's got the data to back it up too, and she's not shy about sharing it.

Between projects, she's usually experimenting with salvaged materials in our workshop or convincing clients that exposed ductwork isn't just an aesthetic choice - it's a maintenance strategy. The woman can make lifecycle analysis sound almost exciting. Almost.

What Drives Us

Look, we're not gonna pretend every old building deserves to be saved. Some are genuinely past their prime. But too often, developers look at a 70-year-old warehouse and see nothing but demolition costs and construction timelines.

We see embodied carbon that doesn't need to be wasted. We see spatial volumes you can't recreate with modern building codes. We see character that gives a neighborhood its identity. And yeah, sometimes we see a really cool old crane rail that'd make an incredible feature wall.

Our job isn't to preserve everything exactly as it was - that'd be a museum, not architecture. It's about finding what's worth keeping, what needs to change, and how to make those two things work together. Some days we nail it. Some days we learn expensive lessons. Every day, we show up and try to do better than yesterday.

Want to Work With Us?

We're always up for a good challenge and a strong cup of coffee.

Let's Talk About Your Project