Lighting design – concept development for retail and commercial spaces

What the analysis covers

The starting point is the space itself: room geometry, ceiling height, surfaces and their reflectance, glazed areas and the daylight share. Next come the fit-out – shelf heights, refrigerated units, machinery – along with the product range and brand identity. For supermarket lighting design, the position of the fresh food zones matters as much as the checkout area.

The second part of the analysis covers the existing installation, where one is in place and falls short. We look for the cause rather than masking it: insufficient illuminance, glare from unsuitable beam angles, a spectrum that distorts the colour of the goods, or dark zones between luminaires.

Light as a sales instrument

On the shop floor, light directs attention: accents mark promotional areas and guide the customer route, while the general lighting provides orientation. In the fresh food zone, matched spectra bring out rich colours in fruit, meat, bakery products and fish without distorting the goods. In fashion, colour rendering is decisive; in consumer electronics, the priority is avoiding reflections on displays. These decisions are made in the concept rather than at the point of selecting luminaires: where the accents sit, how bright the surroundings are by comparison, and which spectrum carries the goods together determine what the customer notices first. That is why every project starts with the sales floor and how merchandise moves through it, not with a catalogue. Our retail lighting page sets out how this works in practice.

Offices and production: standards and wellbeing

In offices and production areas, lighting design is first a question of compliance. DIN EN 12464-1 specifies illuminance, uniformity, glare limitation and colour rendering for each visual task, and ASR A3.4 transfers those requirements into German workplace legislation. Beyond that, we plan light colour and distribution so that the installation remains comfortable across an entire shift. In parallel we prepare the cost assessment covering installed load and maintenance effort.

Building control into the concept

Lighting control belongs in the concept, not behind the installation. Added later, control cabling is often missing, luminaires turn out not to be dimmable, or circuit groups do not allow workable scenes. When presence detection, daylight regulation and scene control are planned from the outset, cabling, luminaire selection and the operating concept stay aligned. The protocols available are described on our control systems page.