Behind the name “Q4A”

We are excited for what the next decades will bring, the types of projects that we collaborate on and where the firm will go, but we never lose sight our past: the people and project that brought us all here together. This togetherness is roots of one of the biggest questions I get… Why are we called “Q4A” and what does it mean?

Since I began working in this profession, I have always wondered the same question: If our buildings could speak, could they really tell our story? The problem is we design for the people who use our spaces, not necessarily for ourselves, so as this firm formed, I wanted it to focus on what really mattered to us: people. This is our team, our clients, and communities that we serve. This same principle applies to the name of our company. Back in 2004, when we founded Quadra Design Studios around a kitchen table, we had a clear vision: We wanted to create real projects for real people.

So, the image of a house, of four-sided shapes was always in our mind with the identity of the firm. ‘Quadra’ has always been a play on an architectural word, and we loved the idea of a quadrangle or of a rectangle, which are the purest and simplest of the building shapes.

We became passionate not just about the shape, but the simple beauty of a square as a concept. We talked a lot about how important it is to be ‘square’ (perfect, not boring!) in construction and carpentry: Designing the right angles, leaving no gaps, being lined up… And that really applies to architectural deliverables, as one leads to the other…

Most importantly, we focused on a synonym of square which is “true,” and, by extension, honest and fair. Quadra Design Studios had to be the name of our company it all just clicked 20 years ago. A firm full of exceptional professionals. Honest people doing honest work.

The Q4A name story though, is much simpler! We eventually needed and really wanted to include the word ‘architects in our name, for legal and practical reasons, so that everybody could identify what we were and what we did.

As Quadra Design Studios was doing a lot of work in the USA at the time, we didn’t want to change it right away, so we decided to create a second name, Q4A, for our Canadian studios, emphasizing the inter connectivity of the two firms (with the goal of unifying them over time). So, the story of Q4A is: We kept the Q, for our roots at Quadra, and the 4 represented all those wonderful ideas that made us choose ‘quadra’ in the first place and the A is for Architects. It checked off everything we wanted and felt right.

Looking back at our origins makes me realize how proud I am of who we are, and how thankful I am for what we have achieved. That is the story behind the name Q4A.

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