About Us - Tandrelon Quintho Architecture

Our Story (The Real One)

Back in 2011, Marcus Tandrelon and Elena Quintho were both working at different firms, competing for the same municipal project. They kept running into each other at city planning meetings, and honestly? They couldn't stand each other's approaches at first.

Marcus was all about pushing sustainable tech to its limits - sometimes forgetting people actually had to live in these buildings. Elena was focused on how spaces made people feel, but wasn't always thinking about the environmental footprint. After months of back-and-forth (some of it pretty heated, we're told), something clicked.

They realized they weren't actually disagreeing about goals, just methods. So they grabbed coffee, sketched on napkins for about four hours, and by the end of it, Tandrelon Quintho Architecture was basically born. Took another year to make it official, but that conversation changed everything.

Now we're a team of 17 people who all get that good architecture isn't about choosing between sustainability and livability. It's about refusing to compromise on either.

Quick Facts

Founded: 2012
Team Size: 17 people
Projects Completed: 140+
LEED Certified: 89 projects
Award Nominations: 23

Our Approach

We don't do cookie-cutter. Every project starts with listening - to clients, to the site, to the community. Then we figure out how to make it work for the next 50 years, not just the next 5.

The Founders

Marcus Tandrelon

Co-Founder & Principal Architect

Marcus spent his early career obsessing over building systems and energy efficiency. He's the guy who'll spend an hour debating the merits of different photovoltaic panel angles. Before starting TQ, he worked on commercial projects across Ontario and got his Masters from Waterloo. These days he's usually buried in technical specs or arguing with engineers (in a good way).

Fun fact: Still rides his bike to site visits year-round. Yes, even in January.

Elena Quintho

Co-Founder & Principal Architect

Elena's got this knack for understanding how people actually move through spaces. She started out doing residential work but got frustrated with how much waste was built into standard practices. Her background in urban design from UofT shows up in everything we do - she's always thinking about context and community. She handles most of the client-facing work because, frankly, she's better at translating "architecture speak" into normal human language.

Fun fact: Has a collection of door handles from demolished buildings. It's gotten out of hand.

How We Got Here

2012 - The Beginning

Officially opened our doors with just the two founders and a rented office space that was way too big for us. First project was a residential renovation in Leslieville - client took a chance on us and we're still friends with them.

2014 - First Big Break

Landed our first commercial project - a mixed-use development in Parkdale. Hired our first three employees and immediately realized we had no idea how to manage people. Learned fast though. Building's still there, still performing 30% better than code requirements.

2016 - Recognition

Won our first OAA award for a community center project in Scarborough. Also the year we nearly went under because we bid a heritage restoration project way too low. Learned some expensive lessons about accurate estimating.

2018 - Expansion

Moved to our current Queen West location and grew the team to 12. Started taking on larger urban planning projects. This was also when we formally committed to making every project meet or exceed LEED standards, even when clients didn't specifically ask for it.

2020 - Adapting

Pandemic hit, like everyone else. Figured out remote collaboration faster than we thought possible. Actually took on some of our most interesting residential projects during this time as people reconsidered what they needed from their homes.

2022 - A Decade In

Hit our 10-year mark with 17 team members and over 100 completed projects. Launched our sustainable building consultancy service because other firms kept asking us how we were achieving our energy numbers.

2024 - Today

Working on some of our most ambitious projects yet - including a net-zero commercial tower downtown and a cross-laminated timber residential complex. Still learning, still pushing boundaries, still occasionally disagreeing about curtain walls.

The Team Behind the Projects

We're 17 people now - architects, designers, technologists, and a couple of folks who defy easy categorization. Everyone here is obsessed with at least one weird aspect of building design, which makes for interesting lunch conversations.

What ties us together isn't just sustainable design (though yeah, we're all pretty hardcore about that). It's this shared belief that architecture should make people's lives genuinely better, not just look good in magazines. Don't get us wrong - we want our stuff to look good too. But if it's not working for the people using it? Then we've failed, full stop.

We do regular studio critiques where anyone can challenge anyone's design decisions. It gets heated sometimes, but that friction usually leads to better outcomes. Plus Marcus brings good coffee, so people stick around for the debates.

Work With Us

140+

Projects Completed

89

LEED Certified Buildings

12

Years in Practice

23

Award Nominations