I think there is little likelyhood of the information you are looking for being available in the wider aviation community. Airbus product support would be the only likely source and only if they are still supporting the type. They have been trying to get the type certificate cancelled for some time. I would say that the panel as drawn is as manufactured. If a landing light was not installed a blanking plate would have been fitted. In the drawing you can see the reinforced area around the light. This would be to carry the weight of the unit and the flight loads imposed when the light was extended. Pilots often used the lights as forward facing identification lights so the structure should have been stressed to cope with all speeds in the flight envelope. The panel also took some of the load of the side panels which were hinged to it by the pip pins illustrated. Probably classified as secondary structure.
Looking at the photos was a trip back in time. Last time I worked on one was 1999 in Holland. Very serviceable aircraft but short in range. We flew with long range tanks as standard in the UK and Holland. The customers liked them and were very reluctant to upgrade to the 365N, Those auxiliary servos visible always seemed to leak.