Available Light founder and CEO Steven Rosen, FIALD, CLD, has announced his retirement, concluding a lighting design career of more than 40 years and 35 years with the practice he founded.
Rosen's route into lighting began in the theater, where he intended to spend his working life interpreting dramatic work through light. He supported that theatrical career by lighting trade show exhibits alongside one of his mentors, Rick Chamberlain. A chance tradeshow collaboration with museum exhibit designer Nick Paffett led to his first museum commission, the Virginia Air & Space Center, and he stayed with museums from there. A few years later, an encounter with architect Bob Schaeffner produced his first architectural lighting assignment: a new earth sciences building at Amherst College.
That sequence — theater, trade shows, museums, architecture — shaped the outlook behind Available Light. Rosen questioned why he should focus on a single discipline when he could work across all of them. The firm was built on the belief that unrestrained theatrical storytelling could serve a far wider audience.
From a living room drafting table to six studios
Available Light started in 1992 as a single drafting table in Rosen's living room apartment. It has since become a national lighting design practice with six studios and close to 40 people, and a portfolio that spans museum exhibition, architecture, themed entertainment, trade show exhibits and immersive environments around the world. Rosen's wife, Susan Gochenour, believed in the vision and became the young firm's first managing director.
Rosen's work has been recognized across the industry. He won the first-ever IALD Radiance Award for Available Light's project on Building 7 at MIT, and he has received Lifetime Achievement awards from LDI/Live Design and The Edison Report. He is a Fellow of the IALD and appeared on the 2025 blooloop 50 Top Museum Influencer list.
Reflecting on the decision, Rosen said his greatest achievement has been assembling Available Light's team of passionate, talented and hard-working professionals, and that serving as their leader was an honor and a privilege. He said that with several layers of people ready to take on the challenge of running the firm, the time was right to hand over the reins and cheer on their success.
Available Light said it will continue to evolve, push boundaries and create meaningful experiences through light. Founded in 1992, the firm describes its work as compelling, innovative, sustainable and insightful lighting design across state-of-the-art museum experiences, contemporary architecture, themed entertainment attractions and trade show exhibits.