Meet the 2023 AIA Pittsburgh Board President!
Name: John Ryan
Firm: DesignGroup
Family: Wife – Elise; Dog – Xiabe
Years in practice: 15
Education: B.S. Architecture – Ohio State University; M. Architecture – University of Pennsylvania
AIA Committees you’ve served on: Advocacy, B4B, COTE, Education
Your first job: Paper Carrier
Project you’re proudest of: Renovation for the University of Pittsburgh IT Department
Favorite building: Salk Institute – La Jolla, CA. I have a large extended family, and I visited this building with a distant cousin. This iconic building provided a stunning setting for a long and wonderful conversation on family and life.
Favorite outdoor space: local = Schenley Plaza, this space just feels right. The buildings frame it beautifully. International = Campo de Fiore in Rome, so many fond memories of this ancient yet ever changing piazza
Architect you’d like to have coffee with: Billie Tsien, I heard her lecture during graduate school, and she capped it off with a powerful manifesto titled “knowledge is private.” I will never forget that moment.
What do you like to do when you’re not working? Enjoy the great outdoors by biking, hiking and walks with my dog. I also play guitar and sing in a choir.
Best gift to give an architect: Time
If you hadn’t become an architect, what would you have been? Hard to say, but most likely an urban planner or public policy lawyer
If you could live anywhere in the world, where? The outer Hebrides, Scotland
What’s on your iPod? Sufjan Stevens, Come On Feel the Illinoise – I seem to listen to music seasonally, I always come back to this album in the wintertime.
The secret to my success: My parents and my wife, with loving and unconditional support you can do anything.
Advice to young architects: Don’t be afraid to explore and wander along your way.
Quote to live by: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt.