LichtfeldLichtplanung / München

Lichtplanung / seit 2006

The question is
never how bright.
It is what stays dark.

Light for buildings, streets and one footbridge. We mock up on site before we draw, and we bring a meter to the handover.

A concrete stair at night lit only by a continuous recessed line of warm light
L-118, west stair. 80 lx on the tread, nothing on the wall.
118
Schemes since 2006
2 700 K
House warm white
5 lx
Lowest scheme
0
Uplighters specified

Recent schemes

  1. L-118Pinakothek, west stairInterior, public80 lx2026
  2. L-112Hofgarten colonnadeExterior, listed12 lx2025
  3. L-104Werkhalle 3, RiemIndustrial500 lx2025
  4. L-097Sankt Bonifaz, naveSacred50 lx2024
  5. L-089Isar footbridgeExterior, public5 lx2023

Four positions

  1. 01

    Mock up before you draw

    We build the condition full size, on site, at night, and look at it. Every scheme we have regretted was one that went to drawings first.

  2. 02

    Dark is a material

    The brief usually asks how bright. The useful question is what should stay unlit, and it is almost always more than the client expects.

  3. 03

    One colour temperature

    A single CCT per space, held across every fixture and every replacement lamp for the life of the building. Written into the O&M manual.

  4. 04

    Measure, then argue

    We bring a meter to every handover. An opinion about a lighting scheme is worth having; a reading is worth acting on.

A lighting mock-up room with several fixtures aimed at a sample wall
Mock-up, L-112. Four options, one night, one decision.
A single machined luminaire on a plain workbench lit from the side
Bespoke, 2,700 K, machined in Augsburg.

How a scheme happens

Walk the site after dark. Build the mock-up. Look at it with the people who will use the building, not only the ones paying for it. Then draw.

We do not issue a lighting layout until a full-size condition has been seen at night by somebody with the authority to change their mind. It costs a fortnight and saves a year.

Commissioning is part of the fee, not an extra. We aim every fixture ourselves, at night, and we come back once in the first winter to do it again.

A building facade at dusk washed with warm light from below
L-112, colonnade. 12 lx, and the sky still legible above it.

Studio

Office
Baaderstrasse 18, Rgb.
80469 München
Appointments
After dark, on site, by preference
Fees
Percentage or lump sum. Commissioning always included.

Three things we will not specify

Not taste. Each of these causes a specific, measurable problem we have been called back to fix.

01

Uplighters

They light the sky, the underside of leaves and the inside of your eye, in that order. Nothing that matters is above the fixture.

02

Cool white outdoors

Four thousand kelvin outdoors reads as institutional at any level, disturbs insects far more than warm white, and never flatters a facade.

03

Above 3 000 K near a bed

It is not about atmosphere. It is about the hour before sleep, and it is the one thing clients thank us for two years later.

What we hand over

At practical completion, on paper and as files. The O&M is written to be read by a caretaker, not a lawyer.

  1. Lighting layoutPDF, DWGInstallerAiming angles marked
  2. SchedulePDF, XLSXClientWith replacement lamps
  3. Control strategyPDFFacilitiesScenes, times, overrides
  4. Commissioning recordPDFClientMeasured, not designed, levels
  5. O&MPDF, paperCaretakerTwelve pages, plain language
  6. Spares listPDFFacilitiesTen years of availability

Questions from clients

Why do you insist on a mock-up?
Because everybody, including us, is wrong about light on paper. A fortnight of mock-up has saved every project we have run it on.
Is LED still improving?
The chips, marginally. The drivers and the optics, considerably. We specify for the driver being replaceable, which most fittings still do not allow.
Can you work with our electrical engineer?
Always. We do the design intent and the aiming; they do the distribution and the compliance. It only goes wrong when nobody says which is which.
What does it cost?
Percentage or lump sum, and commissioning is always inside it. A scheme we do not commission is a scheme we did not design.