L. Irene Compadre

Lecturer L. Irene Compadre is a registered landscape architect and founding principal of Arbolope Studio, an award-winning landscape, urban design, and public art practice based in St. Louis. Arbolope Studio works with a wide range of institutions, corporations, communities, and individuals across the region, including seving as the local partner for Michael Vergason Landscape Architects on Washington University’s East End project. Compadre was an inaugural graduate of WashU’s MLA program, and also earned her Bachelor of Arts in architecture from WashU. She has a background in musical composition, architecture, sculpture, and scenic art, which inspire her novel approach to the design of landscapes for the 21st century. She teaches Landscape Representation in the MLA program; her innovative representational methods introduce students to freehand and mechanical representation as a means for developing and communicating design ideas. Under her tutelage, students build a basic understanding of orthographic drawing typologies and traditional drawing materials, and develop observational skills, a design vocabulary, basic drawing skills, and the techniques of landscape architecture and architectural representation. Compadre was honored with the Sam Fox School’s Recent Alumni Award as part of its annual Awards for Distinction in 2021.