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Connection
As Practice.
We envision a future where design serves as a catalyst for renewal — building stronger, more resilient communities through spaces that inspire, restore, and connect.
Explore Practice arrow_forwardLandscape Architecture
The art and science of planning, designing, and managing natural and built environments to create sustainable, functional, and aesthetic outdoor spaces that enhance human and ecological well-being.
Urban Design
Shaping the physical setting for life in cities, towns, and neighborhoods by designing human-centric urban networks that foster civic engagement, connection, and purpose — the art of making places.
Master Planning
A strategic framework that aligns the built environment with a community's ongoing story. It goes beyond spatial layout to ensure that future development is cohesively rooted in human-centered experiences, improving social connection and establishing a shared vision for the future.
Story-Telling
The means of allowing human experience to inform both place and process — ensuring that the resulting recommendations are fundamentally human-centered, serving as dynamic settings where the built environment collides with everyday life.
We create connections between designers, planners, and communities who believe in a better, more human-centered way of designing places.
A culture where —
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Jon Ernest, PLA
Raised in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Jon Ernest is a licensed Landscape Architect dedicated to planning + design that creates, restores, and sustains the environmental, cultural, and social fabric that define communities.
Jon is the Founder + Principal of JELA Studio, a Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Planning firm based in Harrisonburg, VA, and serving the broader Mid-Atlantic region. Project partnerships & client relationships include both public and private stakeholders, along with consulting partnerships with multi-disciplinary teams invested in transparent and collaborative design processes.
Throughout his career, Jon has worked to blend creativity, practicality, and story-telling — designing places that maximize the project's vision while limiting disturbance and honoring the site's surrounding context and history. Professional experience spans across a range of project types and scales, including public vision and master plans, planned neighborhoods, mixed-use developments, retail and commercial districts, institutional and medical campuses, urban streetscapes, greenways, parks, plazas, and more!
Full Portfolio
This archive includes work completed across multiple firms. Enter the password to access the complete project collection.