Deborah Berke
Deborah Berke Partners
Dean, Yale School of Architecture
“Robert Steinberg’s fascinating and unclassifiable new book—part memoir, manifesto, and monograph—is organized around nine ‘realities’ of architecture. These ideas, provocative and some seemingly contradictory, are united by Rob’s humane and generous vision of the built environment, and in his belief in the commitment of the architect to strive to improve it for all beings. May his book guide the way.”
William A. Witte, Chairman and CEO
Related California
California’s Largest Mixed-Income Developer
“As a developer, I’ve worked with Rob and his firm for years, and admired their work. But How Architecture Tells goes much further; it explains his focus on the “people” side of architecture, going beyond the “bricks and mortar” to show how the ultimate users of the physical space, be it residential, commercial or institutional, can interact with design principles to benefit them. Planning Commissions and elected officials would do well to read this before they opine on a given project.”
Jeffrey J. Fox, New York Times and International Best Selling Author
“How Architecture Tells is stunning, riveting, gorgeous.”
John Barton, Director, Stanford University Architcture Design Program
“Students of architecture should read this book. It is at once a theory and description of architecture intertwined with the deeply personal story of one architect. It shows the imperative that architecture is indeed powerful when it is focused on making human lives better.”
Robb Report
Christmas Issue
2021
15 Coffee Table Books That Will Make Anyone’s Living Room Look Better
“Sculpting space has the power to shape life,” says Robert Steinberg, and this book of 200 full-color photos showcases many of the ways in which architecture can do just that. A futurist, activist, storyteller and fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Steinberg spotlights how some of his public projects have helped raise up and bring together different communities, and how architecture can help spur social change and collective healing.
Alicia John-Baptiste, President and CEO
SPUR — The SF Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Assoc.
“There is no guarantee to how our cities will evolve and we all know what it feels like to exist in places that ignore the human experience. But if we keep the principles of Steinberg’s How Architecture Tells in mind, every new change can bring with it greater beauty and inspiration, and every change can enhance our connections — to each other, and to the places that hold us.”
(Read the complete review)
From the Introduction by the Honorable Penny Pritzker
“As a real-estate developer, I have worked with dozens of architects. Rob’s skill at sculpting spaces that bring people joy is truly a gift. Working together on the Classic Residences by Hyatt, now the Vi on the Stanford campus, we were able to create what is now seen as the standard bearer for the highest quality in senior living, helping to evolve the way our society cares for its seniors.
“Rob has transformed his father’s architecture firm into an international titan, and along the way transformed himself into a renowned thought leader.”
Join the conversation with Rob and folks from all over the globe passionate about design:
About The Book
How Architecture Tells
The general reading public is likely to think of architecture as buildings. But, with this book, Robert Steinberg would like to help readers understand that architecture shapes lives. Architecture can help communities integrate and thrive. Architecture can touch us, influencing how we feel and how we interact with others. In short, architecture can fundamentally improve our quality of life.
As a young graduate architect fresh from Berkeley, Steinberg began to discover the potential of architecture to shape communities. Working with his father, an architect who had studied with Mies van der Roe (and whose father was also an architect), one of Steinberg’s first projects was to draft and redraft a parking garage in downtown Silicon Valley, CA. As he mediated between the two architects in charge of the project – his father and the city architect – he noticed that with each evolution, the garage became more beautiful and refined. And with each improvement, this garage became more able to succeed in the goal of reviving the dying downtown core of Silicon Valley.
The garage was a huge success, and Steinberg began to codify what he
had learned. Thanks to the garage, he wrote the first of what would become the 9 Realities of Architecture: ‘Architecture is the pursuit of perfection’ – a magnificent take-away from a humble parking garage project. As Steinberg eventually rose to become CEO of his firm and grew it into a global practice with six regional offices including a major office in Shanghai, he used his drive for creating thriving communities to eventually touch the lives of millions of people around the world.
How Architecture Tells is not a collection of pretty pictures of an architect’s work, although all of the work here is profoundly attractive. Instead, here the reader will learn how architecture, in the right hands, brings people together to live in harmony with each other and with nature.
Steinberg explains his 9 Realities of Architecture over the course of nine chapters, each opening with the Reality and a brief clarifying statement. He then takes an in-depth look at one or two specific projects from the span of his forty-year career, explaining textually and visually how the project exemplifies the Reality. These pages are dedicated to the reader understanding how
architecture based on the 9 Realities transforms lives.Some of the projects, from Steinberg’s early years, were small in scale yet still redefined their communities, such as the San Jose parking garage, and a Job Core campus. Others are complex, such as the transformation of one of the largest properties in Silicon Valley (the ex-Sun Microsystems campus) into the Campus for Jewish Life, which provides the community with a complex for housing, learning, mixing and celebrating in way that the various strands of Judaism had never before been able to share, and which has become a model for a new prototype of inter-generational, and inter-cultural urban villages.
The reader will also see how Steinberg’s vision for senior living, in partnership with Stanford University and Classic Residences by Hyatt, became the gold standard for how we might create environments for seniors that would offer them engaged and dynamic communities.
About the Author
Robert T. Steinberg FAIA
Robert Steinberg, Chairman Steinberg Hart
Unlike many of the world’s ‘name’ architects, Steinberg’s view of architecture is not focused on himself, but on his impact on people’s lives. He has used his opportunities and challenges to shape entire communities, and he has always gauged his success by results that can only be measured over time: are the people impacted by his work thriving?
Steinberg’s passion for storytelling caused him to begin his career as a filmmaker, and among his first projects was a documentary for then- Governor Jimmy Carter. After a brief stint in Hollywood, he got his graduate degree in architecture from Berkeley and joined his father’s firm, where he eventually became President.
Endlessly challenging himself and his ever-growing company, his firm took on diverse projects: in the governmental realm, such as for the Job Corp; in education, including universities for the State of California; and for national developers. Steinberg eventually created entire campuses (for the Jewish community of Palo Alto) and the most highly regarded senior complex in partnership with Stanford and Hyatt.
Always seeking new horizons, Steinberg expanded the firm into China, and eventually designed industry-pioneering senior complexes there, often modeled on the gold standard of his Stanford example. He was eventually invited to lead the design of entire new cities.
Today Steinberg is Chairman of Steinberg Hart. He also advises SPUR, the northern California regional urban policy think tank on planning. He is discovering ways to continue his work to guide leaders in making the right decisions on major projects and to inform all those responsible for shaping communities. Above all, he relentlessly deploys his passion for repairing the world.
(Video) Rob Steinberg visits The Vi and the Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto
(Video) Rob Steinberg with resident of The Vi
November 13, 2023
12:15 — 1:30 P.M.
Palo Alto Rotary with Rob Steinberg, FAIA
Baylands Cafe – 1875 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303
SPRING 2024
TBD
Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture
Columbia University – New York City, New York
november 3, 2022
7 — 8:30 P.M.
An Evening with Architect & Author, Rob Steinberg, FAIA.
Oshman Family Jewish Community Center 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303
October 12, 2022
5 — 7:00 P.M.
In Conversation with Rob Steinberg — Presented by SPUR + A.I.A.
The SPUR Urban Center— 654 Mission, San Francisco
July 7, 2022
3:30 — 5:00 P.M.
Vi at Palo Alto Residents' Lecture Series
Vi at Palo Alto – 620 Sand Hill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304
February 27, 2022
2 — 3:30 P.M.
Rob Steinberg, FAIA In Conversation With Alicia John-Baptiste, President & CEO of SPUR To Celebrate The Launch Of How Architecture Tells
Book Passage – One Ferry Building 42, San Francisco, CA 94111
February 23, 2022
6 — 7:30 P.M.
Rob Steinberg, FAIA In Conversation With Laurie Beckelman To Celebrate The Launch Of How Architecture Tells
Rizzoli – 1133 Broadway, New York, NY 10010
October 12, 2021
3 — 4:00 P.M.
UCLA Graduate School of Architecture
Virtual
June 23, 2021
6 — 7:30 P.M.
San Mateo AIA
Virtual