Values
Culture
Our values guide everything we do. Through design, relationships, and change, we work together to shape environments and create inspiring places. Our culture is as unique as each of our employees, and we encourage and celebrate diverse backgrounds.
Our Core Values
Design
We share a deep belief that design matters. It affects people in profound and unexpected ways. Through design we connect people with place, creating identity and memorable experiences that build community, enhance business, support learning, and improve the cities we live in.
Relationships
Architecture is a people business. We develop long lasting relationships with our clients and collaborators. By engaging and supporting the organizations and causes that improve our lives, we become leaders and trusted partners in the communities we serve.
Change
We are entrepreneurs at heart. Our firm is ever changing, evolving, and transforming through an innovative approach to the practice of architecture. Our experienced and dynamic team challenges the status quo with a focus on creating space for people to be great.
We are a JUST Organization
Steinberg Hart has been a proud participant in the International Living Future Institute’s JUST program, a voluntary disclosure tool for organizations seeking to improve social equity and enhance operations, since 2021. JUST is not a certification program, but rather a transparency platform for organizations to share information about how they work, including employee well-being and where they make financial and community investments.
The program provides a framework for our continuous efforts to support our team members and their professional success and personal wellbeing, measuring our commitment to JUST’s 22 indicators—including diversity and inclusion, pay and gender equity, benefits, local benefits and stewardship. This label is a representation of our commitment to increased transparency, social justice and equity, and give us an indication of how we are upholding our values as a company. In addition to showing us areas where there is room for improvement, this benchmark allows us to understand ourselves better, be proud of our successes, and see ourselves through the lens of designing a just future.
We share an entrepreneurial culture that embraces change and encourages those who take initiative
Many of Steinberg Hart’s most celebrated facets of company culture, including our social justice initiative, women’s group, team building, participation in charity events, providing healthy snacks and care for the environment, were employee-initiated and supported by the company. Employees are encouraged to bring their ideas to the table to create a culture that we are all proud of. While we share a common DNA, each office is unique. Our offices are dynamic reflections of the cities and communities in which we live and work.
Visiting LA's Iconic Stahl House
Los Angeles
Steinberg Hart’s Los Angeles office is located in a historic 1920s building in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles’ financial district. Our largest office, Los Angeles is home to our corporate headquarters. The office’s diverse team touches on all of our markets, with a strong focus on higher education and multi-family and mixed use housing. The team in LA takes full advantage of the architectural heritage of the city, with field trips and design pecha kucha discussions. As marathon runners, yogis, artists, and cyclists, LA team members champion wellness and self-expression.
Design Discussions
San Francisco
Our San Francisco office is centrally located in the city’s vibrant Financial District, between the iconic San Francisco Ferry Building and Salesforce Park. The studio’s strong design culture is tangible, even reflected in the office’s architecture; rotating pin-up walls provide space for spontaneous design discussions to take place on the way to grab a cup of coffee. It’s a lively, collaborative atmosphere that creates opportunities for design to thrive.
San Jose's Annual Halloween Contest
San Jose
Steinberg Hart’s San Jose office is built on a legacy that goes back to the firm’s inception in Silicon Valley over 70 years ago. Our oldest office carries on a tradition of civic engagement, housing innovation, and educational excellence throughout the Bay Area on a wide range of project typologies. The office is deeply anchored in Downtown San Jose, with a tangible impact on shaping the local community. The office hosts regular Calls to the Wall, impromptu opportunities for the team to gather around a specific design problem to solve it together. And, the annual Halloween costume contest is envied by all; with similar events spreading to other offices.
NY Office Boat Tour
New York
Steinberg Hart’s New York office is located in lower Manhattan, in a historic 1930’s Beaux Arts building at the center of the Financial District. The office’s culture builds upon a 30+ year legacy of work focused on creating dynamic spaces dedicated to arts and culture for the nation’s civic and educational institutions. A tightknit studio culture is rooted in creative design exploration and materiality, often expressed through physical models and vibrant material boards. From pot-luck lunches, weeknight happy hours & showroom visits, weekend tours of various individuals neighborhoods, and an annual Secret Santa holiday celebration, this is an office with an energetic culture. You would be hard pressed to find a team member who would miss weekly Beer Fridays, a tradition that has been held in the office for over a decade.
The New York office is essentially one big family. We understand what makes each other tick, and share a sense of humor that allows us to poke fun at each other in a lighthearted way. Our creativity and playfulness with design is expressed in all that we do.
Amanda Rienth
Principal, New York
San Diego
The San Diego office builds upon a 30+ year legacy of work supporting our federal, state, and local governments, and the team is deeply integrated into the local San Diego fabric. The office boasts a long history of successful collaboration with the U.S. Military, evidenced by a broad range of work completed at virtually every Navy and Marine shore facility in Southern California. The office is located just a mile away from the waterfront, and steps away from the city’s sprawling Balboa Park which brings over 1,200 acres of green space to the city.
Austin
Steinberg Hart Austin office opened in 2021, building upon over 30 years of history and experience in the state of Texas. Staying true to the city mantra “Keep Austin Weird,” Steinberg Hart Austinites take advantage of all that the city has to offer. As one of the sunniest cities in America, the city is a mecca for outdoor recreation and boasts incredible food. And, as the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin boasts more live music venues than any other city in the country, and is known for its dynamic art scene. The FitWell certified office features a mural by artist Gabriela Elias. The office is growing rapidly, a reflection of the constantly evolving surroundings, making it an exciting place to work at Steinberg Hart.
Shanghai
Our legacy makes us who we are
Since its founding in Silicon Valley in 1953, our firm has prioritized building community through the creation of lasting, impactful architecture. Steinberg Hart brings together the legacies of three architecture firms – The Steinberg Group, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer & Associates (HHPA), and RJC Architects – to create the national firm we know today.
Our Beginnings
Founder Goody Steinberg (right) with son, former CEO and current Chairman, Rob Steinberg
Founder Goody Steinberg, FAIA, was widely regarded as an architect in Silicon Valley, a key actor in its transformation to the vibrant economic engine we know today. With thousands of buildings to his name, Goody notably designed the Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.
The firm’s influence grew in both size and influence under son Rob Steinberg’s leadership, evidenced by the addition of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Shanghai offices. The firm completed notable projects such as Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Schwab Residential Center, and San Jose’s iconic City Hall in partnership with Richard Meier. Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, one of the largest and most complex projects built at the time in Palo Alto brought an interdisciplinary 435,000 SF intergenerational campus to the region.
Our Legacy
Steinberg Hart Partner, Malcolm Holzman (center) with fellow Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates founding partners
Meanwhile, since its founding in 1967, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates (HHPA) was flourishing, producing an award-winning body of work reflective of American architecture, emphasizing materiality, and experimentation with space. Celebrating the distinctive characteristics of each site, program, and client, HHPA went on to receive the prestigious AIA Firm Honor Award. Known for the design of buildings for public use, Malcolm Holzman and his partners designed notable projects including the renovation of Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and the restoration of Radio City Music Hall. When the partners separated, Malcolm Holzman co-founded Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture in 2004.
David Hart assumed the role of President & CEO of Steinberg Hart in 2014. Through his leadership, the firm merged with San Diego’s RJC Architects in 2018, deepening the its expertise in the civic, federal, and national defense markets while also expanding geographic reach in Southern California. In 2019, Steinberg Hart and Manhattan-based Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture joined forces, bringing forth an exciting, new, and distinctly national practice built upon the foundations created by both Goody and Malcolm.
Today, these intertwined legacies are personified in the longstanding relationships of firm leadership, many of whom worked together at HHPA, RJC Architects, and The Steinberg Group, unified under the Steinberg Hart banner. To view an illustrated timeline of the firm’s history, including landmark projects over the past 65 years, click below.