About Us
At Hamilton Snowber Architects, we view the design and construction process as a creative collaboration between the client, architect and builder to create homes to meet your physical, aesthetic and financial needs. From establishing your design program all the way to moving into your finished home, we provide personal and professional services that make the experience efficient and enjoyable.
Cynthia Hamilton and Chris Snowber have worked with clients in the Washington metropolitan area, as well as other parts of the country (New England, Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Virginia, Midwest), to develop residential projects at a variety of scales and settings. With each project, we seek to develop solutions that respond to the specific needs of the client, site and surrounding context. To meet those needs, we employ the architectural language that is most appropriate, whether traditional, transitional, or more contemporary.
We consider understanding the landscape — the yard, the street, the community, the region — an integral part of any design solution. Throughout the day, through the seasons, a house should interact with its setting in ways that inspire and delight.
Environmentally responsible design leads us to seek solutions which limit a project’s impact through the use of green products and practices. In applying these principles, this means maximizing insulation and use of green materials, as well as seeking ways to employ alternative sources of energy, including geothermal, photovoltaic production of electricity and solar collectors for hot water.
Cynthia N. Hamilton, AIA
Cynthia has a wide range of experience in residential design, architectural education and historic preservation. After obtaining her BA from the University of Maryland in Art History and American Decorative Arts, Cynthia worked for the St. Mary’s City Commission, the Maryland Historic Trust and the Smithsonian Institution. She went on to earn a Master of Architecture from Yale, and then worked at Moore Grover Harper Architects in Connecticut before teaching architecture at Auburn University and Carnegie-Mellon University. She established her own residential firm in Washington, DC in 1985. Chris joined her in 1990 to form Hamilton Snowber Architects.
Christopher R. Snowber, AIA
Chris has maintained a strong connection to residential architecture since the beginning of his career. After graduating from Antioch College, he worked with several DC design firms before heading off to manage a construction project in West Africa. He obtained a Master of Architecture from Carnegie-Mellon University before returning to Washington, where he spent time at Martin and Jones Architects and Hartman Cox Architects. In 1990, he joined Cynthia in establishing Hamilton Snowber Architects. Aside from his work with the firm, Chris has also committed himself to work in the community: as one of the founders of the pro-bono service group Community Design Services, serving on the CRAN Committee (Custom Residential Architects Network) for the Capital Area, and on the board of ILO (Integrated Living Opportunities), a non-profit organization established to provide housing and other services for adults with intellectual disabilities.
John Clark
John is a Registered Architect in the state of Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Master of Architecture from Catholic University. As the son of an industrial arts teacher, he was exposed to the philosophy of "learning-by-doing" at an early age. Focusing specifically on residential architecture for the past 15 years, John has worked for several leading architecture and design/build firms throughout the DMV, and spent time in the field building his designs. Away from the drafting desk, John and his wife Regina try to keep up with their two boys, and like most architects, they're constantly tinkering on their own home. If you wake up early enough, you're likely to find John biking the roads and trails around the region, trying to beat the clock.
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