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Alvaro Estenos, RA is the founder and design director at Estenos Design, LLC. With 20 years of professional experience, Alvaro Estenos has worked on a wide variety of high profile projects in the DC metro area and nationwide. His work, as lead designer for top architecture firms in the US, includes the design for the New Sibley Hospital Tower in Washington, DC and the MGM Theater at National Harbor in Maryland. As Founder and Design Director at Estenos Design, he has designed innovative workplace environments like Management Solutions’ headquarters, state-of-the-art healthcare facilities like Fort Belvoir Medical Center, unique restaurants concepts like Mezcalero and LoveMarket and Contemporary Living spaces like Windsor Towers and 4520 Rhode Island Ave.
Alvaro Estenos is the founder of LA IDEA-DC, (Latin American Interior Designers, Engineers and Architects), a committee of the American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC. As part of LA.IDEA's education program, he launched the annual Maestros de Arquitectura lecture series which have included world-renowned architects like Cesar Pelli and Enrique Norten.
Alvaro Estenos is an adjunct professor of computational design at Montgomery College School of Architecture in Rockville, MD.
...and, once the pens are down, he enjoys being a musician, a writer, an avid chef assistant to his wife and the DFO (director of fun operations) to his three amazing kids and hyperactive dog.
Iryna Carlson
Iryna graduated with a Master’s of Fine Arts in Interior Design from George Washington University in 2016. Her thesis project on family-oriented airport waiting spaces received the Jurors’ Choice Award. Iryna’s professional experience includes both commercial and residential projects. In 2015 she joined SmithGroup JJR, in Washington DC and worked on a large-scale hospitality project – the MGM National Harbor Theater. Iryna joined Estenos Design in 2017 and has worked on multiple hospitality, commercial and restaurant projects. Prior to becoming an Interior Designer, Iryna was a project manager for the Gates Foundation in Ukraine and Moldova and the Intercultural Communication Manager with Peace Corps. She was born in Moldova and is fluent in Russian and Ukrainian.
Ben Ripley
Ben is an designer with 2 years of experience working on wide variety of projects. He excels at a wide range of skills from visualization and 3D renderings to site surveying and construction documents. Ben has worked on many of the firm's commercial projects including the most recent Mezcalero Restaurant in Vienna, VA.
Fatima Alburqueque
Fatima is a graduate architect with 2 years of experience working on commercial and residential projects. As project architect she is responsible for project development, production of construction documents and detailing. Fatima has worked on some of the firm's most recent multifamily projects including the Windsor Tower Apartments renovation and the new mix-use development at 4520 Rhode Island Ave.