Elaine Day LaTourelle
Associate Professor Emeritus
Professor LaTourelle teaches both graduate and undergraduate design studios, and serves as both the Undergraduate Coordinator and a graduate program advisor. She developed a study program with the University of Liverpool and has taught in the Architecture in Rome Program. Professor LaTourelle’s design studios and thesis topics emphasize public buildings, social issues and conditions, special populations, and working with community groups on real projects.
A registered architect, Professor LaTourelle heads her own practice, Elaine Day LaTourelle & Associates, Architects & Environmental Planners, P.S. The firm has a 25-year history of planning and design for libraries, higher education buildings, special populations, urban public areas, and parks.
Professor LaTourelle’s practice currently is focusing on libraries. Her firm has been responsible for programming, design and construction of 16 library projects in the Northwest, along with post-occupancy evaluation, programming and/or pre-design services for at least 40 others. She recently completed a space needs assessment for the Puyallup Public Library and the Renton Technical College Library, and over the past six years she has assisted the Seattle Public Library System chart a future course by investigating and evaluating the Downtown Central Library and all 22 branches. She wrote the Library System’s long-range Facilities Master Plan, proposed solutions for deficiencies, and developed the cost estimate. She prepared all subsequent versions of the Seattle Public Library Branch Plans for the bond campaigns. She directed a site search and site evaluation for the proposed new Central Library, and participated in developing the Central Library design program. She is currently designing the Renton Technical College Library. Professor LaTourelle is also conducting a comparative study of recently built downtown libraries in major cities in the U.S. and abroad.
Professor LaTourelle received an M.Arch. from Yale University and her B.Arch from the University of Washington.