Crafting Spaces Where Legend Meets Innovation

How We Got Here

Look, we didn't start out thinking we'd become Vancouver's go-to for sustainable architecture. It just kinda happened when we realized traditional design was leaving too much on the table.

Back in 2012, three of us were sitting in a cramped office downtown, frustrated with how the industry kept churning out cookie-cutter buildings that didn't respect the environment or the communities they were built in. We'd all worked at bigger firms, seen the waste, felt the disconnect. So we said screw it and started Mythral Den in a shared workspace that smelled like old coffee and ambition.

The name? Yeah, we get asked about that a lot. "Mythral" isn't a real word - we made it up mixing "myth" and "material." We wanted something that captured both the storytelling aspect of great architecture and the tangible, real-world building part. Plus it sounded cool, won't lie.

The Team These Days

We've grown from that initial trio to about 15 people now. Still small enough that everyone knows what's happening on every project, big enough that we can tackle some seriously complex work. Got architects who geek out over Passive House standards, interior designers who can make a 400-square-foot space feel like a mansion, and project managers who somehow keep us all on schedule (mostly).

Our studio on Granville Street's got this great light in the afternoons - west-facing windows that we actually designed properly with overhangs so we're not roasting in summer. Yeah, we practice what we preach. The space is part showroom, part workshop, part hangout. Clients often drop by just to chat about their projects over coffee.

Everyone here's got their own specialty, but we all jump in wherever needed. Last week our lead architect was helping install a material library display, and our intern presented design concepts to a major client. That's just how we roll - no ego, just good work.

The Vancouver Context

Being based in Vancouver shapes everything we do. This city's got some of the most innovative green building policies in North America, but also some of the trickiest site conditions - seismic requirements, heritage districts, wild topography. We've learned to see constraints as creative opportunities rather than roadblocks.

The West Coast modernism tradition here is something we respect deeply. Those post-war architects who figured out how to build light-filled homes in our rainy climate using simple materials - they got it. We're just carrying that torch forward with better technology and a more urgent need to address climate change.

What Drives Us Forward

Honestly? We're still figuring things out. Every project teaches us something new. That commercial retrofit last year showed us thermal bridge details we'd never considered. The heritage house in Kitsilano revealed construction techniques from the 1920s that were actually more sustainable than modern methods.

We're not trying to be the biggest firm in Vancouver. We're trying to be the one that, when you walk past our buildings in 50 years, they still make sense. They still work. They still feel right.

Climate change isn't some abstract future problem - it's here now, affecting every design decision. How do we create buildings that can handle increasingly extreme weather? How do we renovate existing structures instead of demolishing them? How do we make sustainable choices accessible at different budget levels? These questions keep us up at night in a good way.

The Process (Real Talk)

First meeting's always awkward. You're trying to figure out if we get your vision, we're trying to understand what you actually need versus what you think you want. But somewhere around the second or third conversation, things click. You start seeing how we think, we start seeing how you live.

Then comes the fun part - design development. We sketch, model, render, revise. Sometimes we build physical mock-ups right in our studio. There's something about holding a piece of the building material in your hand that computer screens can't replicate. We'll show you why a wall should be 6 inches to the left, or how changing the ceiling height transforms a space.

Construction's where theory meets reality. That's when our project managers earn their keep, navigating permit applications, coordinating trades, solving the inevitable surprises that come with every build. We're on-site regularly because details matter and because honestly, it's the best part - watching the design come to life.