Benz Roos
Speirs Major Light Architecture
Benz studied Architectural Design at the Royal Art Academy, The Hague in The Netherlands.
During this time he developed a passion for lighting design and consequently went on to study for a Masters in Architectural Lighting Design at the University of Wismar in Germany. In 2008 Benz joined Speirs Major Light Architecture as an Assistant Designer and was promoted to Design Associate in 2017. In 2020 he was made Associate Partner. His ambition is to bring more imagination into the experience of a space – if applied to fantastic architecture and public
realm, light can make the experience for people even better.
Benz has worked on a number of projects including the multi-award winning Gasholders London in the King’s Cross development, the City of London Lighting Strategy, and the innovative Lights over Kruunuvuorenranta in Helsinki, Finland. He was also integral to the design for ‘In Lumine Tuo’, an animated light installation in Utrecht, The Netherlands which won the top prize in lighting design, the IALD Radiance Award, in 2014 as well as the recently completed reimagining of the
design which has now become permanent. Other recently completed projects include Taikoo Place development in Hong Kong, Broadgate Estate in London and the public realm lighting design at Canada Water.
Benz has a keen interest in research and development, helping to design the award-winning street lighting luminaire Aeroblades which was developed with Cree Inc. He also collaborated on the Eira luminaire with Fagerhult, and most recently, on the new lighting fixture ‘CELLS’ with manufacturer Reggiani. He was a key member of the design team for the Third Age of Light research project and led the design for the ground-breaking ‘Our Time on Earth’ climate exhibition
at The Barbican Centre.