Lighting Design and HOAI: What Clients and Architects Need to Know
The HOAI can describe quite precisely when a planning service takes place.
But it does not automatically tell you how good the lighting will ultimately be.
For clients and architects, a different question is therefore more important: What does professional lighting design actually include – from the first concept to the built reality?
These are exactly the points where most misunderstandings arise in projects.
Not the question of whether a pendant luminaire should be round or linear.
It structures and evaluates planning services. It replaces neither the lighting concept nor the project-specific definition of the scope of services.
Within the HOAI, lighting systems are included, among other areas, within the service profile for Technical Equipment. The basic services are divided into nine service phases.
Independent architectural lighting design, however, often includes much more specific tasks in practice: daylight, lighting effect, light distribution, luminaire selection, bespoke luminaires, mock-ups, controls, scenes, sampling and on-site fine-tuning.
This is why the statement “lighting design according to HOAI” is not sufficient on its own.
What matters is which services have actually been agreed within each phase.
Within the Technical Equipment service profile, Section 55 HOAI assigns fixed percentage shares to the nine phases. For a lighting design project, these values are an important reference – but they are not an automatic fee distribution for an independent lighting designer.
Understanding use, objectives, architecture, budget, existing systems and relevant interfaces.
Developing the first lighting idea, lighting principles, daylight approach, zones, lighting qualities and basic technical direction.
The concept becomes concrete: luminaire typologies, positions, light distributions, calculations and control logic are coordinated.
Approval-related requirements are integrated and coordinated where they affect the respective scope.
An idea becomes a buildable solution: dimensions, installation details, positions, interfaces and technical information are refined.
Services and products are described in a way that makes quotations comparable and the intended lighting quality tenderable.
Quotations are compared professionally, alternatives are assessed and decisions for awarding contracts are prepared.
The built execution is checked against the design and contractual basis. With lighting in particular, the real space now becomes decisive.
Follow-up support, defect-related topics and further services after completion can form part of this phase.
LPH 1 and 2 have comparatively small percentage shares in the formal HOAI weighting.
For spatial quality, however, they can still be decisive.
At this stage, ceilings are not yet closed. Furniture layouts can still respond. Lighting lines can be developed with the architecture rather than against it. Daylight can still influence layout, openings and controls.
The later lighting design begins, the more often design is reduced to product selection.
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Early on, the focus is less on specific product numbers and more on principles.
Which activities take place? Where does daylight enter? Which surfaces should appear bright? Where do accents make sense? Which areas require flexibility? Which lighting scenes should later be available?
A good result begins with a spatial strategy – not with a luminaire catalogue.
Design decisions now need to become technically legible.
Light distribution, luminaire positions, colour temperature, colour rendering, glare control, illuminance levels, control principles and architectural integration become more concrete.
Calculations can verify whether defined requirements are achieved. But they do not replace the decision of which surfaces should actually be prioritised.
At this stage at the latest, it becomes clear whether the concept and technical planning really work together.
Installation heights. Ceiling details. Luminaire schedules. Drivers. Optics. Switching groups. Interfaces. Tender specifications.
Alternative products also need to be assessed professionally. Two luminaires with a similar wattage or similar lumen output do not automatically create the same lighting effect.
Some things only become fully visible once the space has been built: real reflections, viewing angles, material surfaces, furniture and the actual effect of dimming levels.
Site supervision, aiming, scene setting, programming and fine-tuning should therefore be clarified early within the scope of services.
Not every one of these services is automatically included simply because an offer states “LPH 8”.
Spatial geometry, ceilings, materials, furniture, details and the overall design context form the architectural basis.
Lighting effect, visual hierarchy, light distribution, luminaire quality, positioning, optics, scenes and project-specific lighting details are at the core.
Power supply, circuits, distribution boards, cable routing, protection systems and electrical infrastructure are planned and coordinated professionally.
“The lighting designer does the light, the electrician does the electricity” sounds simple.
For a complex project, it is usually too vague.
Who defines the DALI groups? Who writes the scene matrix? Who determines which luminaire must be individually addressable? Who checks compatibility between driver and control system? Who programs the system? Who approves the scenes at the end?
These questions should be resolved before the technical planning is already far advanced.
Luminaires then have to fit into a grid that was developed without considering their installation dimensions, lighting effect or maintenance.
An early assumption quickly becomes a financial reality even though the lighting concept has not yet been developed.
Desired scenes may later fail because groups, addresses or interfaces are missing.
A detail invisible in the rendering becomes a maintenance problem years later.
The question of what spatial task each luminaire is actually meant to perform is then often missing.
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Especially in lighting design, it is worth looking beyond the headline of the proposal.
Are daylight studies, shading or coordination between natural and artificial light included?
Which spaces will be calculated, to what level of detail and for which requirements?
Are renderings, samples or 1:1 tests part of the commission or additional services?
Who develops, details and coordinates project-specific luminaires?
Does the scope extend only to scene logic – or also to programming and commissioning?
Are spotlight aiming, dimming values and final scene settings on site included?
A concept can mean two very different things.
Version one: a few reference images, luminaire families and a rough lighting idea.
Version two: a robust strategy covering daylight, lighting zones, luminaire positions, calculations, control principles, installation details and coordinated interfaces.
Both may be called a “concept”.
From a planning perspective, they are not the same.
The current HOAI fee tables serve as orientation values. The fee is generally agreed between the contracting parties.
If no fee amount for basic services is agreed in text form, Section 7 HOAI provides for the respective basic fee rate under the conditions stated there.
A fee does not become understandable simply because “LPH 1–8” is written next to it.
Relevant factors include the service profile, fee zone, chargeable costs, commissioned phases and additional or special services.
For independent lighting design, the contract should therefore describe particularly clearly which lighting design tasks are actually included.
Architectural lighting design operates between design and technology.
This is precisely why the German Lighting Technology Society has developed its own service profiles for daylight and artificial lighting and updated them in 2025.
They define the work of lighting design as an independent specialist discipline in greater detail than the traditional HOAI service profiles alone.
For clients, this means above all: The HOAI structure is a very useful common language for the project process – but the lighting design contract still needs a precise description of services.
A ventilation duct can function technically without a user consciously noticing its exact position.
Light behaves differently.
A spotlight is aimed five degrees incorrectly. A scene is too bright. An artwork develops reflections. A table sits outside the beam. A wall appears flatter than intended.
These things only become fully apparent in the built space.
This is why commissioning should answer one question clearly: Who takes responsibility for the final adjustment between the design and the actual lighting effect?
No.
A project may already be further advanced. Certain services may already be covered by other specialist planners. Some phases may only be partly relevant to the specific scope.
Studio De Schutter therefore works with different commissioning scopes depending on the project. Projects such as The Loop, Kita Mittenwalde and Château Bénat are documented with LPH 1–8. At Coreum Hotel, for example, the commission began with LPH 2 and continued through LPH 8.
The goal is not to list as many phases as possible.
The goal is to ensure that no relevant task disappears between two responsibilities.
LPH 1–8 including lighting concept, bespoke luminaire development, control planning and programming.
View project →LPH 1–8 with user-oriented lighting design for an educational building and close interaction between daylight and artificial light.
View project →LPH 2–8 including architectural lighting consultancy, project-specific luminaire development and scene setting.
View project →LPH 1–8 including fine-tuning for an extensive historic residential project.
View project →Lighting systems are included within the HOAI, among other areas, under the Technical Equipment service profile. Independent architectural lighting design is not formulated as a completely separate HOAI service profile. The specific scope of lighting design should therefore be clearly described contractually.
The HOAI distinguishes nine service phases: basic evaluation, preliminary design, design development, approval planning, detailed design, preparation of tendering, participation in tendering, site supervision and post-completion support.
No. Service phases and partial services can be commissioned on a project-specific basis. What matters is that interfaces and non-commissioned services are clearly defined so that no planning gaps arise.
Ideally before major decisions about ceilings, materials, furniture and controls have been fixed. The earlier light is considered as part of the architecture, the easier it becomes to coordinate installation details, daylight, controls and budget effectively.
The lighting designer typically focuses on lighting effect, visual quality, luminaires, light distribution, positions and scenes. Electrical planning typically covers the electrical infrastructure. The precise interface should be contractually defined for each project.
No. The fee tables now serve as orientation values. The contracting parties agree the fee. For basic services, Section 7 HOAI provides for the basic fee rate under the stated conditions if no corresponding fee agreement has been made in text form.
During site supervision, the built execution is checked against the planning and contractual basis. Lighting-specific services such as site coordination, professional acceptance, spotlight aiming, scene setting or fine-tuning may also be relevant. Whether these specific services are included should be expressly clarified in the commission.
Depending on the project, more detailed simulations, specific daylight studies, mock-ups, bespoke luminaire development or other project-specific tasks may be commissioned additionally. Their exact classification depends on the respective service profile and contract.
It needs to continue through planning, tendering, execution and into the built space.
Depending on the project, Studio De Schutter accompanies different service phases – from the first lighting strategy through implementation and on-site fine-tuning.
What matters is not only which LPH is commissioned. What matters is what is actually delivered within that phase.
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