Studio Research Lab (SRL)
Founded in 2025, the Studio Research Lab (SRL) is JRS’s dedicated home for design research, innovation, and sustainability leadership. It reflects a fundamental shift in how we understand our role as landscape architects, not only as designers of place, but as active contributors to the environmental, technological, and cultural conversations shaping the future of our discipline. The SRL formalizes what has long been part of our practice: curiosity, rigor, and a willingness to rethink our tools and assumptions, and gives it structure, visibility, and momentum.
The SRL serves as both an incubator and a platform. Internally, it creates space for experimentation, technical development, and critical inquiry across the studio, advancing new workflows, testing emerging technologies, and supporting staff in expanding their skills and research interests. Externally, it positions JRS within a wider network of academic partners, professional organizations, and allied disciplines, enabling deeper collaboration and more meaningful contributions to public discourse.
At its core, the SRL strengthens our commitment to evolving as a practice, embedding environmental research, digital innovation, and continuous learning into the same design culture that has shaped decades of award-winning work. It is a mechanism for transforming insight into action, ensuring that ideas generated within the studio have clear pathways toward implementation, documentation, and shared learning.
The SRL exists to:
- Support original research initiatives within the studio.
- Strengthen the relationship between design excellence, sustainability performance, and professional growth.
- Investigate research questions and share ongoing pursuits with the wider discipline.
- Engage clients and the public in the value of sustainable, performative landscapes.
The SRL is, ultimately, an investment in the future of JRS. It reflects a commitment to remain adaptive, forward-thinking, and deeply engaged in the evolving challenges and opportunities of landscape architecture.
We invite you to browse the projects below for more details:
