Available Light has announced the retirement of its founder and CEO, Steven Rosen, FIALD, CLD, closing a 35-year chapter at the lighting design practice he established and a career in design spanning more than four decades.
Rosen's route into architectural lighting passed through several disciplines. He began with a plan to spend his life designing for the theater, where nothing gave him greater satisfaction than interpreting a dramatic work through light. He supported that theatrical career by lighting trade show exhibits alongside a mentor, Rick Chamberlain. A chance 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 produced his first architectural lighting assignment, a new earth sciences building at Amherst College. Theater, trade shows, museums and architecture — Rosen chose not to specialize in just one.
That breadth shaped Available Light. He founded the firm in 1992, starting with a single drafting table in his living room apartment, around the belief that unrestrained theatrical storytelling could serve a wider audience. The practice has since grown into a national lighting design firm with six studios and almost 40 people, working across museum exhibition, architecture, themed entertainment, trade show exhibits and immersive environments worldwide. His wife, Susan Gochenour, believed in the vision and joined early as the young firm's first Managing Director.
Awards and recognition
Rosen won the first-ever IALD Radiance Award for Available Light's work on Building 7 at MIT. He 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 Influencers list.
Handing over the reins
In a statement, Rosen said his greatest achievement had been assembling the team of passionate, talented and hard-working professionals at Available Light, and that serving as their leader had been an honor and a privilege. He said that with several layers of people ready for the challenge of running the firm, he had decided the time was right to hand over the reins and cheer on their success, describing himself as a very proud founder.
Available Light said the company will continue to evolve and push boundaries, creating meaningful experiences through light. Since 1992, the firm has described its work as crafting compelling, innovative, sustainable and insightful lighting design solutions across museum experiences, contemporary architecture, themed entertainment attractions and trade show exhibits.