Kalpana Kuttaiah
As a 4-year old, Kalpana received among other gifts, a miniature Tokyo tower souvenir when her parents returned from a visit to Japan. Fascinated by what they had to tell her about their travels to faraway places, she remembers thinking, she would travel the world one day. And she has done just that for more than three decades. She has been to over 80 countries so far! Kalpana truly believes that she was meant to be a citizen of the world. She believes places become an intrinsic part of us—when we breathe it, we have lived it.
Kalpana has a long career and background in architecture, research, and practice informed by myriad cultural experiences. With a passion for design and innovation informed by critical inquiry and thinking, she promotes ideas and research that culminate in publications and interdisciplinary exchanges. Her tenacity for learning while motivating others has allowed Kalpana to provide great leadership for Perkins&Will as she champions firmwide efforts to build a knowledge base for our health practice, dispensing information, working on firmwide research initiatives, and incorporating research ideas into project-driven solutions.