Elizabeth Emerson’s architectural interests spring from the social and cultural. A native of the Washington DC area, Elizabeth’s research in design has engaged issues of social and environmental sustainability, individual and collective identity, and privatization.

Elizabeth's project experience prior to founding EL Studio ranged from multi-tenant residential and hospitality projects to institutional and government projects including the Syracuse University School of Architecture and the US Embassies in Rabat, Morocco and Vienna, Austria. She has taught at several institutions, most recently in the graduate Urban Practice concentration at Catholic University School of Architecture and Planning. In addition to her design work and academic research, she undertakes art exhibition and residency projects in partnership with Carpe Diem Arte et Pesquisa in Lisbon, Portugal. Elizabeth is a licensed architect in New York and Washington, DC.

Mark Lawrence is a maker, solving theoretical problems with a material vocabulary and skill set. He approaches architecture just as much with his hands as with his mind, using his intimate understanding of construction to understand how seemingly theoretical decisionmaking affects built work.

He has worked on a range of project types of varying scale with architecture firms in both Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA, including the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego and the UCLA Broad School Art Center reconstruction and expansion under Richard Meier and Partners. As a board member of the Washington Architecture Foundation, Mark works with Community Design Services to increase access to the organizational value of architecture by optimizing the space occupied by non-profit organizations. Mark is a licensed and registered architect in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.