Steven Rosen, FIALD, CLD, founder and CEO of the lighting design practice Available Light, has announced his retirement after a career in lighting design spanning more than 40 years. The company said Rosen is handing over the leadership of the firm he started in 1992.
From Theater to Architecture
Rosen set out intending to spend his life designing in the theater, where he said nothing brought him greater joy than interpreting a dramatic work with light. He supplemented that theatrical career by lighting trade show exhibits alongside one of his mentors, Rick Chamberlain. A chance trade show collaboration with museum exhibit designer Nick Paffett led to his first museum commission, the Virginia Air & Space Center. Later, an encounter with architect Bob Schaeffner produced his first architectural lighting design assignment: a new earth sciences building at Amherst College.
“Why focus on one discipline when I could do it all?” Rosen is quoted as saying, describing a path that moved through theater, trade shows, museums and architecture.
Building Available Light
Rosen founded Available Light on the belief that unrestrained theatrical storytelling could reach a more expansive audience. What began in 1992 as a single drafting table in his living room apartment has grown into a national lighting design practice with six studios and almost 40 people, with a portfolio spanning museum exhibition, architecture, themed entertainment, trade show exhibits and immersive environments around the world.
His wife, Susan Gochenour, believed in that vision and signed on as the young firm’s first Managing Director, the company said.
Awards and Recognition
Rosen won the first-ever IALD Radiance Award for Available Light’s work on Building 7 at MIT. He also received Lifetime Achievement awards from both LDI/Live Design and The Edison Report, became a Fellow of the IALD, and was named to the 2025 blooloop 50 Top Museum Influencer list. The company counts more than a thousand projects across his career and 35 years of Available Light history.
Handing Over the Reins
In a statement, Rosen pointed to the team as his proudest accomplishment. “My greatest achievement has been assembling this team of passionate, talented, and hard-working professionals at Available Light,” he said. “Serving as their leader has been an honor and a privilege. Realizing that we have multiple layers of people ready for the challenge of running the firm, I made my decision that the time is now to hand over the reins and cheer on their success. I am a very proud Founder!”
Available Light said the firm will continue to evolve, push boundaries and create meaningful experiences through light.
About Available Light
Founded in 1992, Available Light creates lighting design for a broad range of project types, including museum experiences, contemporary architecture, themed entertainment attractions and trade show exhibits. The company describes its work as compelling, innovative, sustainable and insightful, aimed at creating lasting and memorable encounters.