Steven Rosen, FIALD, CLD, founder and CEO of the lighting design practice Available Light, has announced his retirement, closing a career that spans more than four decades in lighting design and 35 years of the firm's history.
Available Light said his tenure covered more than a thousand projects and a substantial record of awards. The company described his most enduring contribution as the community of designers, collaborators, clients, students and friends he influenced, and learned from, along the way.
From theater to architecture
Rosen set out intending to spend his life designing for the theater, where he took the greatest pleasure in interpreting dramatic works through light. His career widened through opportunities he had not planned. He supported his early theatrical work by lighting trade show exhibits alongside a mentor, Rick Chamberlain. A trade show collaboration with museum exhibit designer Nick Paffett led to his first museum commission, the Virginia Air & Space Center. A later encounter with architect Bob Schaeffner brought his first architectural lighting design assignment, a new earth sciences building at Amherst College.
Moving across theater, trade shows, museums and architecture, Rosen said, raised a simple question: why focus on one discipline when he could work across all of them.
Building Available Light
Rosen founded Available Light on the belief that theatrical storytelling, without the usual restraints, could serve a broader audience. The practice began in 1992 as a single drafting table in his living room apartment and grew into a national lighting design firm with six studios and almost 40 people. Its portfolio spans museum exhibition, architecture, themed entertainment, trade show exhibits and immersive environments around the world. His wife, Susan Gochenour, joined the young firm as its first Managing Director.
Awards and recognition
- Won the first-ever IALD Radiance Award for Available Light's work on Building 7 at MIT.
- Received Lifetime Achievement awards from LDI/Live Design and The Edison Report.
- Named a Fellow of the IALD.
- Placed on the 2025 blooloop 50 Top Museum Influencer list.
Handing over the reins
Rosen said his greatest achievement was assembling the team of passionate, talented and hard-working professionals at Available Light, and that leading them had been an honor and a privilege.
Noting that multiple layers of people were ready for the challenge of running the firm, he said he had decided the time was right to hand over the reins and cheer on their success, describing himself as a very proud founder.
The company said Available Light will continue to evolve, push boundaries and create meaningful experiences through light. Since 1992 it has developed lighting design solutions for a wide range of project types, including museum experiences, contemporary architecture, themed entertainment attractions and trade show exhibits.