Groundwork Studio
Groundwork Studio is a small Albuquerque-based landscape architecture and urban design firm serving municipalities, educational institutions, and nonprofits across the Southwest. Founded around 2014–2015, the firm delivers park planning, urban design, complete streets, and recreation planning through project-based professional service contracts.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersAlbuquerque, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Groundwork Studio does
Groundwork Studio is a small landscape architecture, urban design, and planning firm headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded around 2014–2015. The firm provides professional services to a primarily public-sector and institutional client base, including municipalities, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations such as land trusts and MainStreet communities. Its work spans park and open-space design, urban agriculture planning, complete streets initiatives, and recreation planning, with representative projects including the Rio Fernando Park, the International District Urban Agriculture Plan, the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Atlas, and engagements for Albuquerque Academy.
The firm's service portfolio is built around planning, design, and community engagement rather than productized offerings or a technology platform. Groundwork Studio operates as a project-based consultancy, deriving revenue from professional service contracts — typically fixed-fee or hourly engagements scoped to defined deliverables — won through qualifications-based selection (QBS) procurement common to municipal and institutional clients. The team is small (reported at 1–10 employees), led by Founding Principal Amy Bell alongside senior landscape architects, designers, and planning staff, and the geographic footprint is regional, focused on New Mexico and adjacent markets.
The business has accumulated peer recognition through multiple awards, including APA-NM awards in 2019, 2020, and 2021 and a 2021 NMASLA award. The firm positions itself around community-oriented, contextually-grounded design. There is no disclosed external funding, M&A activity, or revenue data, and no evidence of a software or AI capability stack. The firm publicly signals ongoing capacity expansion through hiring activity.
Groundwork Studio firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Groundwork Studio
- Legal name
- Groundwork Studio
- Website
- https://groundworkstudionm.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Groundwork Studio is a small Albuquerque-based landscape architecture and urban design firm serving municipalities, educational institutions, and nonprofits across the Southwest. Founded around 2014–2015, the firm delivers park planning, urban design, complete streets, and recreation planning through project-based professional service contracts.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Groundwork Studio industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Landscape Architecture Services
- NAICS
- Landscape Architectural Services (541320)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Landscape Architecture & Site Design (BPAHAKAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Commercial Landscape Design & Installation (HSAIABAJ), Landscape Design, Build & Installation (Hardscapes/Softscapes) (BPABADAF)
Keywords
Where Groundwork Studio is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Albuquerque
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Groundwork Studio business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Landscape Architecture Services: Professional landscape architecture services including site design, planting & irrigation design, and construction administration for municipal, educational, and community clients
- Urban Design & Planning: Master planning, community planning, and complete streets planning services for municipalities and land trusts
- Creative Placemaking: Pop-up events, community builds, and hands-on engagement projects for community development
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Groundwork Studio product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Groundwork Studio provides landscape architecture, urban design, planning, creative placemaking, and GIS mapping services for municipal, educational, and community clients. Core offerings include site design, planting and irrigation design, construction administration, master planning, complete streets design, pop-up engagement events, and geographic information systems mapping. The firm specializes in community-driven, context-sensitive design for public spaces in the arid Southwest, primarily across New Mexico and select Colorado markets.
Product overview
Groundwork Studio is a landscape architecture and urban design firm offering four core professional service lines: Landscape Architecture (site design, planting/irrigation design, construction administration), Creative Placemaking (pop-up events, community builds, hands-on engagement), Urban Design & Planning (master planning, community planning, complete streets, community forestry), and GIS & Mapping (online maps, storymaps, site analysis). The company operates as a service-based practice rather than a software product company, with no named product modules or platform architecture.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Landscape Architecture Site design, planting and irrigation design, and construction administration services for public and private spaces, delivered to municipal, educational, and community clients in the arid Southwest.
- Creative Placemaking Community engagement through pop-up events, community builds, and hands-on engagement activities designed to activate public spaces and gather community input.
- Urban Design & Planning Master planning, community planning, complete streets design, and community forestry services for municipal and regional clients in New Mexico and adjacent markets.
- GIS & Mapping Online maps, storymaps, and site analysis produced using geographic information systems for planning, community engagement, and project visualization.
Quantifiable outcome
- 1,436 trees planted and 1,400+ trees given away through NeighborWoods Program (2017-2020)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Groundwork Studio
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Groundwork Studio technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Groundwork Studio partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- FBT ArchitectsminorGroundwork Studio and FBT Architects collaborated on Canstruction Santa Fe competition, providing 1,446 cans of food and 44 cases of water to benefit Santa Fe The Food Depot. Both firms were sponsored by Victor Stanley, PlayWell, RAKS Building Supply, Enterprise Builders, and Exerplay.
- New Mexico Outdoor Recreation DivisioncoreGroundwork Studio collaborated with NM Outdoor Recreation Division on the NM Outdoor Recreation Atlas, engaging municipal and county officials, MainStreet organizations, nonprofits, and local business owners from five New Mexico counties in mapping outdoor recreation assets and project prioritization.
- Bernalillo CountycoreGroundwork Studio developed the International District Urban Agriculture Plan in partnership with Bernalillo County to create a sustainable framework for urban agriculture in one of Albuquerque's most diverse neighborhoods, working with over 20 public and private stakeholder groups.
- International District Healthy Communities Coalition (IDHCC)coreGroundwork Studio worked closely with IDHCC to connect with key stakeholder groups and develop a project steering committee of trusted ambassadors for the International District Urban Agriculture Plan.
- Taos Land TrustcoreGroundwork Studio worked with Taos Land Trust and multi-disciplinary project partners to develop the Rio Fernando Park Master Plan, a unique regional resource demonstrating community capacity to create public space supporting natural and cultural ecosystems.
- American Heart AssociationcoreGroundwork Studio has worked with the American Heart Association since 2019 to develop visualizations of Complete Streets in multiple urban centers in New Mexico including Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe, supporting advocacy efforts and Complete Streets ordinances.
- Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG)coreGroundwork Studio worked with MRCOG and community partners to promote updates to the City of Albuquerque's Complete Street Ordinance, using crash data and road diet candidate maps to develop improvement visualizations.
- Albuquerque NeighborWoods Program PartnersminorGroundwork Studio participated in program development and community planting events in partnership with Councilor Benton's office, Tree New Mexico, The New Mexico Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and New Mexico State Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Program. Planted 1,436 trees and gave away 1,400+ trees from 2017-2020.
- New Mexico MainStreet ProgramcoreGroundwork Studio is part of the New Mexico Mainstreet Revitalization Specialist Team, working with Mainstreet's Four Point Approach of Design, Promotion, Economic Vitality, and Organization to provide training and technical assistance for State Mainstreet, Frontier and Arts and Cultural District communities.
- Mesilla Valley MPOminorGroundwork Studio coordinated with Mesilla Valley MPO in Las Cruces to understand crash data and key roads needing safety improvements, supporting passage of their Complete Streets Ordinance in early 2022.
- Keystone Restoration Ecology, Rio Chiquito Research and Consulting, Sound Tree, Henry ArchitectsminorDesign team partners for Rio Fernando Park Master Plan including riparian habitat specialists, restoration ecology, research and consulting, and architecture.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights2 records
Groundwork Studio competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Studio-MLA: Community-centered landscape architecture firm with offices on the West Coast. Comparable in its emphasis on equity-driven public space design, creative placemaking, and participatory processes — the same differentiators Groundwork emphasizes.
- OLIN: National landscape architecture, urban design, and planning firm with a strong portfolio in public realm and civic landscape projects. Comparable in scope of master planning, urban design, and campus work; substantially larger.
- MIG: Planning, design, and communications firm with deep community engagement practice. Highly comparable on participatory design, complete streets, and equitable planning for municipal and community clients.
- Sasaki Associates: Planning, design, and landscape architecture firm with extensive work in campus master planning, urban design, and community planning. Directly comparable on multi-disciplinary planning engagements for institutions and municipalities.
- SWA Group: Internationally recognized landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm. Comparable in delivering master plans, complete streets, parks, and waterfront/civic projects for municipal clients.
- Sites Southwest: Albuquerque-based landscape architecture firm providing site design, planning, and urban design services across the Southwest. Closest regional peer to Groundwork Studio given shared geography, scale, and service mix.
Broad incumbents
- LandDesign: Multi-disciplinary design firm offering landscape architecture, planning, urban design, and civil engineering. Comparable service mix for municipal and campus clients but with national footprint.
- James Corner Field Operations: Large landscape urbanism and urban design firm behind major public realm projects. Comparable in master planning and creative placemaking but at a much larger scale and global project roster.
Regional players
- Lloyd Architects: Albuquerque-based architecture firm with long-standing NM presence. Comparable as a regional Southwest design firm serving municipal, educational, and community clients; complementary rather than directly overlapping.
- Dekker/Perich/Sabatini: Albuquerque-headquartered architecture, planning, and interior design firm. Comparable as an Albuquerque-based firm delivering public-sector projects including campuses and community spaces, though broader in scope.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Groundwork Studio social profiles
Digital presenceGroundwork Studio financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Groundwork Studio leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Groundwork Studio funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Groundwork Studio M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Groundwork Studio
What does Groundwork Studio do?
Groundwork Studio provides landscape architecture, urban design, planning, creative placemaking, and GIS mapping services for municipal, educational, and community clients. Core offerings include site design, planting and irrigation design, construction administration, master planning, complete streets design, pop-up engagement events, and geographic information systems mapping. The firm specializes in community-driven, context-sensitive design for public spaces in the arid Southwest, primarily across New Mexico and select Colorado markets.
Is Groundwork Studio a public or private company?
Groundwork Studio is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Groundwork Studio founded?
Groundwork Studio was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Groundwork Studio based?
Groundwork Studio is headquartered in Albuquerque, United States, in the North America region.
How does Groundwork Studio make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Landscape Architecture Services are the primary driver. The others are urban Design & Planning and creative Placemaking.
Who are Groundwork Studio's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Studio-MLA, OLIN, MIG, Sasaki Associates, SWA Group and Sites Southwest. Broad incumbents are LandDesign and James Corner Field Operations. Regional players are Lloyd Architects and Dekker/Perich/Sabatini.
Does Groundwork Studio have an API?
No public API is recorded for Groundwork Studio.
What industry is Groundwork Studio in?
Groundwork Studio's product category is Landscape Architecture Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAKAC, Landscape Architecture & Site Design, with a secondary code of HSAIABAJ, Commercial Landscape Design & Installation. Its NAICS code is 541320.