Thursday, Feb 26, 2026
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM CET
Lighting design has always been a balancing act: managing energy use, making spaces readable, ensuring safety, and staying within budget. But today, that balance feels more difficult than ever. In 2026, we are standing on a knife-edge.
The architectural design world is being constantly reshaped by urgent and often uncomfortable forces — environmental impact, circularity, and artificial intelligence. Each one challenges not just how we design, but why we design. They compel us to question our instincts, habits, and responsibilities. Personally, I often struggle with making the “responsible” choices and how they relate to the design aspirations of our studio.
Should we prioritise inclusive design for people, or design that better supports biodiversity? Is it responsible to reuse luminaires if they contribute to increased light pollution? Should citizens be able to create the illumination of their own monuments? Is artificial intelligence the next step in creative evolution — or will it wipe out our profession? How does the gamification of visualisation change the way we design?
What is the function of lighting when people wear AR glasses powered by AI? And perhaps most importantly: where does our deep-rooted love for darkness fit into studio practice?
At first glance, these questions seem unrelated. Yet they all point back to the same thing: our core design values. The values that define us — and our soul — as lighting designers.
This talk explores these questions and our shared search for a more conscious and soulful approach to lighting design in the 21st century.
Learning objectives:
Benz studied Architectural Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, where he developed a strong interest in lighting design. He later completed a master’s in Architectural Lighting Design at the University of Wismar, Germany.
He joined Speirs Major in 2008 as an Assistant Designer and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2020. Benz is driven by a desire to bring imagination to everyday spaces, believing that thoughtful lighting can enhance how people experience architecture and the public realm.
His work includes the multi-award-winning Gasholders London at King’s Cross, the City of London Lighting Strategy, and Exchange Square. He also contributed to In Lumine Tuo, an animated light installation in Utrecht that won the IALD Radiance Award in 2014, and to the product design: ‘CELLS’ for Regianni.
More recently, Benz has led design research for Re: Vision, an installation exploring animal colour perception, and contributed to research into moonlight perception for a public realm project in Taikoo, Hong Kong.
Neuro Diversity in the build environment
Watch this webinar (dated Feb 29, 2024) to learn about the potential benefits of incorporating Human Centric lighting principles, including both circadian lighting and melanopic lux, in the design of workplace lighting schemes .
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Lighting & Beyond
Watch this webinar to understand the evolving role of architectural lighting design beyond traditional illumination, recognizing its potential to shape emotional responses and spatial experiences.
