Building With Nature, Not Against It

Look, we're not gonna preach about saving the planet while flying around in private jets. We just work with stone the way it's been done for thousands of years - because it works.

The Stone Doesn't Lie

Here's the thing about working with ancient materials - they've already proven themselves. A granite block that's been sitting underground for millions of years isn't gonna off-gas toxins into your living room or end up in a landfill in 20 years.

We're not reinventing the wheel here. Stone's been the gold standard since humans figured out how to stack rocks. It just happens that doing things the old way is also the sustainable way. Kinda funny how that works out.

Every project we take on starts with a simple question: "What's already here?" Sometimes the best material is literally sitting right under your feet.

Sustainable stone structure

How We Actually Do It

Source Local, Think Geological

First rule at our studio: don't ship a boulder from Italy when you've got perfectly good granite 50 miles away. We spend a lot of time just... looking at maps. Geological surveys. Talking to quarry folks who've been at it for decades. BC's got some of the most incredible stone deposits on the planet, and most people don't even know what's in their backyard.

Zero Waste? More Like Different Waste

Let's be real - you can't cut stone without making dust and chips. But here's where it gets interesting: those "scraps" become aggregate for paths, smaller accent pieces, even crushed stone for drainage systems. We had one project where the offcuts from the main structure became this gorgeous mosaic courtyard. Client loved it. We loved it. The rocks... well, they didn't complain.

Energy? It's Complicated

Yeah, quarrying and cutting stone takes energy. Won't pretend it doesn't. But once it's in place? That building's gonna stand for centuries without needing replacement. No repainting every 5 years, no replacing siding, no manufacturing new materials. We did the math once - over a 100-year span, stone uses way less energy than most modern materials. Plus it naturally regulates temperature, so your heating bills drop.

Water Management That Makes Sense

Stone's porous. Water moves through it, around it, with it. We design drainage systems that work with natural water flow instead of fighting it. Less pumps, less waterproofing chemicals, less headaches when the rainy season hits Vancouver (which is, y'know, most of the year).

The Numbers Don't Lie Either

We're architects, not mathematicians, but even we can't ignore these stats from our projects.

87%

Average material sourced within 200km radius

200+

Years estimated lifespan of our structures (conservative estimate)

92%

Stone waste repurposed on-site or in other projects

35%

Average reduction in heating/cooling costs vs conventional builds

Restoration Over Demolition

This is where we get a bit emotional, honestly. Vancouver's got these incredible heritage stone buildings that developers just wanna tear down and replace with glass boxes. Makes no sense to us.

We've restored churches from the 1890s, warehouses from the 1920s, residential buildings that have stories literally carved into their foundations. The amount of embodied energy in those structures is massive - all that quarrying, cutting, transporting, and building that already happened decades ago.

Why throw that away? Give us six months and the right team, we can bring those stones back to life. Update the interiors, sure, add modern systems, absolutely - but keep the bones. The good stuff.

One restored building = dozens of new builds in terms of carbon saved. That's not marketing speak, that's just math.

Materials We Work With (And Why)

Granite

Local Granite

BC's got some of the toughest granite you'll find anywhere. Lasts forever, looks amazing, weathers like a champ. We've got quarries nearby that've been operating sustainably for generations.

Limestone

Regional Limestone

Softer than granite, easier to work with, incredible for detail work. The stuff from Vancouver Island is particularly nice - warm tones, good density, carves like a dream.

Slate

Pacific Slate

For roofing and cladding, nothing beats slate. Water just rolls off it. Lasts 100+ years easy. We source from ethical operations that actually restore the land after extraction.

Sandstone

Reclaimed Sandstone

Honestly, we prefer reclaimed sandstone from old buildings. It's already been quarried, already cut, already proven it can handle our climate. Plus it's got character you can't fake.

We're not trying to save the world. We're just building stuff that'll still be standing when our grandkids are old. If that happens to be sustainable, well, that's just stone being stone.

What We're Working On Now

Current focus: developing a partnership with local indigenous communities to source stone from traditional territories in a way that respects both the land and cultural practices. It's complicated, it's taking time, but it's important.

Also experimenting with using stone dust as a carbon capture medium in concrete alternatives. Early days, but the lab results are promising. Science is cool.

The Honest Truth About "Green Building"

There's a lot of greenwashing in architecture right now. Lots of certifications and badges and marketing terms that don't mean much when you actually look at the lifecycle of a building.

We're not perfect. Stone work is labor-intensive, sometimes energy-intensive. But we're upfront about it. And when you compare a stone building's 200-year lifespan with minimal maintenance to a modern building that needs major renovations every 20 years? The stone wins. Every time.

Plus, and here's the part nobody talks about - beauty matters. A beautiful building gets maintained. Gets loved. Doesn't get torn down because it's ugly. Sustainability isn't just about carbon calculations, it's about creating things people actually want to preserve.

Let's Talk About Your Project
Stone architecture detail