Mara Lindgren
Founding Principal, Architect AIBC
Founded Lumen in 2009 after a decade in Copenhagen. Obsessed with daylight modelling and the perfect threshold detail.
Architecture & Interiors · Est. 2009
We build with light
We build with light
before we build with stone.
Lumen is a Vancouver studio shaping calm, daylit spaces — homes, galleries and civic work where proportion, material and quiet detail do the talking.
Elevation — study no. 04
Selected work
A portfolio measured in light, not square footage.
Six projects from the last six years. Select any to open its case study.
The studio
Four convictions that shape every commission.
We are small by design — a tight studio of architects and interior designers who stay with a project from the first sketch to the final handle.
01 — Light first
Daylight is the first material
We model the sun before we draw a wall. Every plan is tested for how morning, noon and evening light will move across it through the seasons.
02 — Proportion
Restraint over ornament
A room is right when nothing more can be removed. We resolve buildings through proportion, rhythm and the honest meeting of materials.
03 — Material
Built to weather beautifully
Concrete, oak, lime plaster, blackened steel — we choose materials that age into something better and detail them to last generations.
04 — Place
Rooted in its landscape
A building should belong to its site and its climate. We design with the grain of the land, the local light, and the way a place is actually lived in.
What we do
From a single room to an entire district.
01
Architecture
Full-service architectural design from feasibility and concept through construction documents and on-site administration — new builds, additions and cultural work.
02
Interiors
Interiors developed in the same hand as the architecture — joinery, lighting design, material palettes and bespoke furniture specified down to the door pull.
03
Master Planning
Urban and campus-scale planning that balances density, daylight and public life — phasing strategies, design guidelines and civic frameworks.
04
Consultation
Early-stage strategy for owners and developers — site studies, design reviews and second opinions before you commit to a direction or a budget.
Recognition
Quietly decorated.
Awards matter less to us than a client who still loves their building twenty years on — but we are grateful for the recognition.
2025
Governor General's Medal in Architecture
Awarded for the Selkirk Reading Pavilion — national jury citation for "the discipline of its daylight."
2024
RAIC Award of Excellence
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Cultural category, for the Glasswork Gallery.
2024
AIBC Lieutenant Governor's Medal
Architectural Institute of British Columbia — Merit, residential, Foreshore House.
2023
Wood Design & Building Award
Honour Award for innovative mass-timber framing at Aldergrove Cabin.
2022
Canadian Architect Award of Merit
Unbuilt work — for the Strathcona Civic Tower competition entry.
2021
Western Living Designer of the Year
Studio recognition for a decade of "rigorously calm" West Coast work.
As featured in
Azure
Dwell
Wallpaper*
Canadian Architect
Western Living
The team
Principals who stay at the table.
Every commission is led personally by one of our principals — not handed down a chain.
Davyn Osei
Principal, Design Director
Leads our cultural and civic work. Believes a building's job is to make ordinary days feel a little more considered.
Ines Caballero
Principal, Head of Interiors
Trained as both architect and furniture maker. Specifies everything from the lime plaster down to the cabinet hinge.
Start a project
Tell us about your site.
We take on a small number of projects each year so we can give each one our full attention. Share a few details and a principal will be in touch within two business days.
Studio 300 — 1140 Mainland St
Yaletown, Vancouver, BC V6B 5L1
+1 604 555 0182
Mon–Fri · 9:00–17:30 PT
studio@lumenarchitects.ca
New commissions & press
Thank you — message received.
A principal will read your note personally and reply within two business days.