Laura Battaglia

Laura Battaglia is an Assistant Professor in the Interior Design department at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts, a position she has held since 2022 as she works toward tenure. With close to three decades immersed in architecture and interior design, her path has wound through professional practice and academia alike, taking her through roles at Hampton University, the Art Institute of Virginia Beach, and North Carolina State University before she settled into full-time teaching at VCU. She built her early expertise as an interior designer in Boston, later expanding her reach through project architecture work with firms serving both rural Southwest Virginia communities and major New York City clients. Her education laid the groundwork for this varied career: a bachelor's degree in Design & Environmental Analysis from Cornell University, punctuated by a formative semester abroad in Denmark, followed by a master's degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia. Alongside her academic post, she continues to run studio | battaglia, a small architecture and interiors practice she founded in 2009 that keeps her grounded in hands-on design even as she teaches.

In the classroom, Battaglia champions a holistic philosophy that weaves together architecture, history, and structural thinking, encouraging students to see design as a discipline that serves people rather than an exercise in aesthetics alone. Her scholarship reflects that same people-first orientation, exploring earth-based building methods native to Virginia and researching equitable, sustainable housing solutions through her platform, House Lab. She has also guided multi-year, community-engaged projects, including a memorial design collaboration with Virginia Tech that began in 2023 and later welcomed VCU students into the effort. This blend of research, teaching, and civic-minded practice has earned her recognition as one of Richmond's Influential Women for 2026, a nod to both her professional impact and her role as a mentor within the field.

Beyond her academic and design work, Battaglia is deeply invested in expanding opportunity within architecture and interior design. She serves as a board member of Historic Richmond and has long supported the National Organization of Minority Architects' Project Pipeline initiative, work that dovetails with her founding of ARCHICAMP, a summer program she created to introduce students of color to the field. A devoted mother who once described herself as an "Archi Mom," she credits parenthood with making her more resilient and adaptable, qualities that carry into both her teaching and her design philosophy. Outside of her professional pursuits, she finds balance through family, distance running, and music, having played classical piano since childhood — pursuits that mirror the discipline, patience, and creativity she brings to her work every day.