New construction lighting planning and implementation

...but zero facts about how many lux/lumen/candela are provided in which cubic meter of which room.

I am also more of a fan of numbers, metrics, and decisions derived from them. Lux/lumen/candela are not very intuitive or meaningful for the broad majority of homeowners. So: why all that then? I would find renderings with, for example, DIALux much more helpful, especially to visualize the lighting effect (light cone, beam angle, wattage, color temperature). If I showed my wife the plan and those parameters you requested were on it, she, like me, wouldn’t be able to make any sense of it. Sure, in a commercial context (e.g., office spaces) that can be useful and even required, but it is a different issue and also a different price segment. When you want and are willing to pay for it, you will surely get it. Just probably not relevant for the average customer... Lighting planning is not a reproducible design process for me either, since taste also has a strong influence. Similar to an architect. That’s why I first look at past projects from the planner and see if I like the style. If yes, I go armed with pictures of objects/implementations I like, and then it starts. That's how we found our architectural firm as well. Our planner, for example, arranged on-site appointments with previous clients for us to show how she plans and would implement things for us. That helped us more than any key figures, which I am actually usually more inclined to. For us, that’s what works.

Everything is finished now except for the question of how to illuminate the kitchen peninsula. The planner says that also using spotlights would be too simple. The light strip he showed me does not convince me. I am now looking to see if maybe pendant lights could be used there. Alternatively, he said to simply use surface-mounted ceiling lights instead of spotlights; those also add some variety.

I would find pendant lights not bad for you. They could also be the only ones on in the evening, providing light for the passage to the dining area and probably creating a very cozy atmosphere. You just have to make sure that the light cone spreads a bit wider.

The lighting designer has planned two continuous light strips. Once on the side where you sit and once where you wash.

If pendant lights were used, one would probably plan a row in the middle rather than two rows of them. I would have to specify in detail how it should be. I find this kitchen island really difficult.

Lux/Lumen/Candela are not very intuitive and meaningless for the average home builder.

They don't mean anything to me (intuitively) either. Nevertheless, parametric facts help to answer with a clear yes or no whether a certain light intensity is achieved at a specific point in the room or not. "Planning" implies an engineering approach to me. What is offered here – absolutely legitimate if it satisfies the client – is probably more of an illustrated menu for tastefully spending money on lamps. For me, "lighting PLANNING" – especially for an engineering-appropriate fee – only "counts" if it at least "also" meets the requirement to answer "light intensity X at this or that point: yes or no." Whether brass-colored lampshades match coffee-brown tiles is something your wife can tell you more cheaply.

They don’t mean anything to me personally (intuitively) either. Nevertheless, parametric facts help to answer with a clear yes or no whether a certain luminous intensity at a specific point in the room is achieved or not.

And that is exactly what I doubt. How is a parameter helpful to you if you can’t make use of it? Do you know what luminous flux, luminous intensity, and temperature are needed to create a cozy mood or a certain atmosphere? I would say no. [emoji6] I would also place the topic of lighting in the non-commercial context rather in the artistic area, where metrics and an engineering approach are probably less suitable. And I say this as an engineer who certainly values an engineering approach highly—but only if it fits the problem’s characteristics. And in the field of art, I see no match there. But as I said, there are offers that provide such things. For me and probably others, it is sufficient to tell the planner that a workstation with a screen will be placed there and there, and I want appropriate lighting and illumination for that. How they get there is all the same to me as long as I don’t have a problem and it’s neither glaring nor too dark. If that is not the case, then surely key figures etc. are used to check whether the planner meets the lighting requirements for such situations, which for example are laid down in standards. As a customer, that level of detail is way too high for me—it would hardly be missing that the planner asks: well, Mr. 11ant, which luminous flux, intensity, and temperature would you like here at the living room table, there at the kitchen island, and over there in the corner—OOPS, and of course there at the desk? What would you say then as someone who can’t make anything of those parameters? I find that neither practical for the normal customer nor an advantage. For me, it’s just an unnecessary cost driver without any concrete benefit. But everyone is different, and that is perfectly okay. Fortunately, there is the right offer for everyone—but not necessarily at the same price.