Louis Edouard Laybourne Smith CMG (1 April 1880 – 13 September 1965) was an Australian architect and educator in South Australia.

[6] As a result, Laybourne Smith undertook to complete a mechanical engineering course part-time at the School of Mines, and (in order to pursue his interest in architecture) he was articled to Edward Davies from 1901.

[8] He completed his apprenticeship with Davies in 1904, and was admitted as an Associate to the South Australian Institute of Architects,[8] although the ongoing impact of the depression made finding work difficult.

[9] After graduating at the School of Mines, Laybourne Smith continued his studies at the University of Adelaide, completing a Bachelor of Science in 1911.

[4] While working at the school, Laybourne Smith initiated his own classes on architecture, gathering "a group of colleagues who instructed one another" in the field.

[11] After being approached in 1906 by the Council of the School of Mines, Laybourne Smith teamed with Walter Bagot to develop a new architecture course.

[9] The result was a three-year part-time Associate Diploma, although students were still expected to be articled to professional architects in order to gain more practical experience in the field.

[15] Laybourne Smith's friendship with Walter Bagot had spanned many years prior to the partnership, but their respective working methods was "so different that they seemed unlikely partners".

[2][16] In spite of these differences, their respective strengths tended to balance one another: Bagot was a traditionalist in design, while Laybourne Smith brought an engineer's knowledge and "ingenuity" to the partnership.

These include St Cuthbert's Anglican Church in North Adelaide, which is heritage listed as an example of Gothic Revival architecture;[21] and the romanesque St. Dominic's Chapel at the Cabra Dominican College in Cumberland Park.

[23] Other works by Laybourne Smith include the facade on the Balfours Cafe in Rundle Mall (heritage listed in part due to the innovative "building envelope", which is "independent of the internal structure"),[24] the Repatriation General Hospital in Daw Park (developed by Laybourne Smith from sketch plans produced by Melbourne firm Stephenson & Turner), and the South Australian National War Memorial.

[25] After the entries were destroyed by fire late that year, Laybourne Smith, working with artist Rayner Hoff, was able to redraw the design largely from memory in order to enter the subsequent 1926 competition.

He was admitted to the South Australian Institute of Architects (SAIA) as an associate in 1904, made a fellow in 1907, elected to the council in 1909, and served two terms as President (1921–1923 and 1935–1937).

He was a founding member of the Federal Council of the Australian Institute of Architects, first proposed in 1914 and officially formed in 1915, which served as a "first step" towards the formation of a national body.

[4] Described as a "dapper young man with a moustache waxed into long points",[3] he made for a "dynamic figure with a penetrating voice",[2] and was noted for riding his Douglas motorcycle through the 1920s and 30s in his khaki overalls as he travelled between his professional practice, teaching duties and home life.