Jasmine Ahluwalia on Rethinking Design Education for the Next Generation of Architects

For over a century, universities and design schools around the world have prepared students for careers in architecture and interior design through a mix of theory, studio work, technical subjects and examinations.

Students spend years learning design principles, materials, construction, planning and software. Yet, as the design industry has changed, a gap between education and professional practice has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

The expectations of employers today are different. Architects and interior designers are expected to work with digital tools, coordinate with consultants, understand real project workflows and produce documentation that can actually be used on site. Clients expect designers to understand budgets, timelines and practical constraints. A degree provides the foundation, but it does not always provide the readiness needed to enter the profession.

That is where Jasmine Ahluwalia found an opportunity for change. As an architect, interior designer, educator and founder, she has seen the gap from both sides of the classroom and the industry. Through ASDAV, she is working to make design education more practical, accessible and closely connected to the way projects are actually delivered.

We spoke with Jasmine about what needs to change in design education and what the next generation of architects and interior designers should be learning.

Jasmine Ahluwalia is a Licensed Architect, Interior Designer, Global Vastu Consultant and the founder of ASDAV or Asian School of Design & Applied Vastu.

A graduate of Scuola Master F.lli Pesenti, Politecnico di Milano, Jasmine brings strong global exposure from both academic learning and professional design projects. Her experience combines architecture, interior design and applied design education, giving her a practical understanding of what students learn in classrooms and what the industry expects from them after graduation.

Before founding ASDAV, Jasmine worked as an Assistant Professor at Amity School of Architecture and Planning, Amity University Noida. Her academic research has covered areas including sustainable architecture, urban heat island reduction and circular economy practices in construction. Her research has also been published in Scopus-indexed and peer-reviewed journals.

Her professional exposure extends well beyond India, with on-site experience across countries including Canada, Mauritius and the UK, among others.

Today, through ASDAV, Jasmine has trained more than 500 students across 25 cities. The platform brings together 12+ instructors from institutions such as IIT, SPA, CEPT and NID and has delivered more than 200 live learning sessions.

Her mission is straightforward: bridge the gap between design education and real industry expectations, and help students achieve meaningful professional growth.

She designs spaces for a living, but her favourite project is designing careers.

One of Jasmine's strongest observations is that design education often prepares students to pass rather than to practise.

A student can spend five years studying architecture and still graduate without being comfortable producing a complete working drawing set or developing a model that can be translated into a buildable project.

Jasmine believes this is not simply a problem with students. It is a problem with the way education is structured.

"A degree is not the same as being ready for work," is at the heart of her approach.

The solution is to bring professional practice much closer to the classroom. Students need opportunities to work on realistic briefs, solve practical problems, develop documentation and understand how different parts of a project connect.

The goal should not be to make students work like professionals before they graduate. It should be to ensure they have experienced enough of the professional process to enter the industry with confidence.

Technology has become central to architecture and interior design. Tools such as Revit and other BIM platforms are now part of everyday professional workflows.

But Jasmine points out that simply teaching software does not automatically prepare students for professional practice.

A student may complete a 30-hour software course and learn where different buttons and commands are located. That does not necessarily mean they understand how a real project moves from concept to documentation.

They need to understand how a model develops, how drawings are generated, how information is organised and how different consultants coordinate their work.

For example, in a real BIM project, an architect's model may need to interact with structural and MEP models. Changes need to be coordinated. Information needs to remain accurate. Documentation needs to reflect the model.

That is why Jasmine sees software as a language rather than a subject.

Learning the commands is only the equivalent of learning vocabulary. Students also need to learn how that language is used in the context of an actual project.

This philosophy is reflected in ASDAV's practical approach to learning, including its Revit and BIM certification course for architects.

For Jasmine, the real outcome of a design course should be the work a student can show.

A certificate can demonstrate that someone completed a course. A portfolio demonstrates what they can actually do.

Employers looking for architects and interior designers need to assess design thinking, technical ability, problem-solving and communication. A strong portfolio can demonstrate all of these far more effectively than a certificate alone.

This changes the question educators should ask at the end of a course.

Instead of asking, "What certificate will the student receive?", the more important question becomes, "What will the student be able to show?"

Courses should therefore be designed around tangible outcomes. Students should finish with drawings, models, projects, presentations and other work that reflects their capabilities.

Architecture education involves a huge amount of theory. Students learn about anthropometry, climate, materials, planning, construction and many other subjects.

Jasmine does not argue against theory. Instead, she believes theory becomes much more useful when students encounter it while solving a real design problem.

Consider anthropometry. It becomes far more meaningful when a student has to design a kitchen for a family living in a specific apartment, with limited space and a defined budget.

Climate becomes more relevant when students have to make decisions about orientation, openings, shading and ventilation for an actual location.

Materials become easier to understand when students have to choose them based on cost, availability, performance and the requirements of a project.

The principle is simple: teach theory through application, not in isolation from it.

Design cannot be taught effectively through lectures alone.

Students need feedback on their drawings. They need someone to question their decisions, identify problems and explain how they can improve.

That is why Jasmine believes small batches are not simply a premium feature of design education. They are part of the teaching method itself.

A design student can learn by looking at examples, but meaningful progress happens when someone looks at their work and tells them what is not working.

Design develops through iteration. Draw, review, correct, redraw.

That requires interaction between teacher and student, something that becomes increasingly difficult when one instructor is responsible for hundreds of students.

Online education has made learning more accessible, but Jasmine believes the industry needs to distinguish between access to content and access to education.

Recorded videos can explain a software function or demonstrate a technique. They can be useful resources for revision and self-learning.

But design education also requires discussion and feedback.

A live instructor can interrupt a student and ask why a particular decision was made. They can question the brief, challenge an assumption or ask the student to redo part of the work.

That interaction is difficult to replicate through recorded content alone.

For Jasmine, the future of design education is not about choosing between technology and teachers. It is about using technology to make high-quality teaching more accessible.

Jasmine also believes that design education should make room for knowledge systems that originate in India.

Vastu is often presented at two extremes. It can be dismissed entirely as superstition, or it can be taught as a set of rigid rituals.

Jasmine sees another possibility.

When approached as a spatial system, Vastu can be discussed through concepts such as orientation, light, air movement and how people move through and experience spaces. She believes it deserves to be studied thoughtfully alongside modern architectural practice rather than being reduced to either blind acceptance or complete dismissal.

This approach reflects a broader point about design education. The next generation should be exposed to global ideas while also understanding the knowledge and design traditions of their own context.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity created by online education is geographic access.

A talented student in a smaller city should not necessarily have fewer opportunities simply because they cannot relocate to Delhi, Mumbai, London or another major design centre.

Technology can allow students in different cities to learn from the same instructors and participate in the same learning environment.

ASDAV is built around this idea, with students already trained across 25 cities and instructors bringing experience from leading design and academic institutions.

For Jasmine, this is not just about convenience. It is about access.

Talent was never in short supply. Access was. That part is finally changing.

Rethinking design education does not mean removing academic foundations. It means connecting those foundations more directly to practice.

Students still need design theory. They still need to understand history, materials, climate, construction and the principles that shape good spaces. But they also need to know how those ideas come together in a real project.

They need feedback, not just content. They need portfolios, not just certificates. They need to understand workflows, not just software commands. And they need access to good teachers regardless of where they live.

That is the gap Jasmine Ahluwalia is trying to address through ASDAV.

Her approach is ultimately built around a simple idea: design education should prepare students not just to graduate, but to practise.

And perhaps that is the more useful measure of a design school. Not how many students complete a course, but how many leave knowing what to do next.