Padma Lakshmi talks about the power of connection at AIA26

When asked what the throughline of her career has been, Padma Lakshmi said, “I wanted to connect with people.” 

Lakshmi is an Emmy-nominated producer, author, and activist. At AIA26, she sat down with 2027 AIA president-elect Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA, for a conversation about connection, whether it’s through food or well-designed spaces. 

“I’m a very good cook, but I don’t cook a lot for myself,” Lakshmi said. “I think all of us cooks, we cook for that moment when the other person puts a bit of food in their mouth.”

“That’s the moment that we want,” she said. “That’s the goal; that’s the basket. For architects, it may be the first time someone walks through the door of that building or home that you helped create.” 

This statement resonated with Santos Rivera, who works as a medical planner. “Seeing people walk into a space where they feel like they’re being taken care of in the built environment, that’s our way of connecting,” she said. 

On moving between worlds 

Lakshmi grew up moving between worlds because she visited her mother’s family in India during the summers while the two of them lived in New York the rest of the year.

“I think, often, it’s hard to transition from one culture to another as a child,” she said. “As you’re developing your sense of self, it can be difficult.” However, she continued, “those challenges also shaped my vision of the world to be a little broader.”

While it was hard during her upbringing to sometimes feel like she “wasn’t American enough for America and not Indian enough for India,” she says that now, the feeling of being an outsider is what motivates her. Being part of both of those societies was a great training ground in learning how to connect. 

Through her television and writing work, she has come to appreciate different points of view—and has adopted the perspective that those differences are actually what make this country great. 

“The reason that America has managed to become a superpower is because of the many influences and the many skills and expertise that people bring here,” she said. “Our culture has benefitted from all of those things.” 

On the idea of home

When reflecting on the spaces that have shaped her life, Lakshmi said that the ones where she has felt most at home in have been very small and modest. 

Despite her grandmother’s kitchen in India being a plain and utilitarian space, “it was imbued with so much energy,” she said. “That kitchen was where all the decisions were made. The spaces that have the most meaning, to me, are not the most opulent.” 

On managing change

“You have built a beautiful career through reinvention more than once,” Santos Rivera said of Lakshmi’s trajectory through modeling, acting, and television. “How did you get comfortable with change, and what change has changed you?”

“I grew up as the industry was growing up—I didn’t know there was a career like what I have now,” Lakshmi said of her journey through food television. She credits her travels as a model with exposing her to different cultures and foods that she never would have experienced otherwise. 

“I want to change, I want to learn, I want to evolve, I want to challenge myself,” she said. Her rationale for leaving Top Chef after 17 years was that she wasn’t growing, and she wanted to do more. Of growth and change in her life and career, she said, “It’s not that easy, and I’m doing it anyway.”

On shifts in food and architecture 

Santos Rivera drew a parallel between AIA’s commitment to regenerative design—“the idea that a building should actively restore the ecosystem it touches, not just avoid damaging it—and similar conversations and shifts that are currently happening in the food world.”

“This shift is something I’m so happy about, and I’m so glad you guys are having this conference and exchanging ideas about this very topic,” Lakshmi said. “I think we all collectively realize that we have to work in harmony with nature and we have to incorporate all other species with us. If not, we ruin everything not just for future generations, but for the very planet.” 

On designing a kitchen for America’s Culinary Cup

Lakshmi played a key role in designing the kitchen for the CBS cooking competition show America’s Culinary Cup, which she hosted.

“It was such a wonderful design experience,” she said. “If you see the show, there are no corners in that kitchen.” Drawing on her interest in neuroscience, Lakshmi said that she became interested in research that shows that people are more focused and creative in non-linear spaces, causing her to envision the kitchen as an oval or an amphitheater. The minimalist set allowed the contestants—some of the nation’s most decorated chefs—and their food to shine. 

“If you’re asking Serena Williams to play in your area, you’re going to make sure that court is as pristine as possible,” she said. “I tried the same principle, and I had a little taste of what all of you do every day as architects. I feel so gratified, because the thing that everybody talks about is the architecture of the show and the physical space of that kitchen.”

Katherine Flynn is director, digital content at AIA.