Tiny Talk with Ryan Griffin

I’m not sure we’ve ever hung out and not had music playing. And if you’re not the one picking what we listen to, it seems like you know every song that comes on. My question is, why do you not want to hear music? What setting do you prefer silence?

Hmm… This one is making me think… My initial thought was “never”, but I’m realizing it’s when I intentionally want to hear the sounds of nature instead, most often this is just the creek on my walk home from work. Admittedly I often have one headphone in still… and the sounds of nature still aren’t silence.

I used to listen to music falling asleep at night but don’t do that anymore. At a certain point your ears become so sensitive that even the lowest volume is too loud to sleep with. I also don’t think Brittany would agree to it. So, that, and of course, on the rare occasion I enter a sensory deprivation tank.

I’ve been IN a house that you designed. That’s a very cool thing, helped by the fact that the place is also gorgeous. As an architect, what are some things that folks like me have no idea are part of the process in making something like a house or building possible? 

Well, there are the dry but necessary things like building code, zoning and ADA… The scope of their influence is something that most people probably don’t have a grasp of. Most people probably don’t know I spend the majority of my time not designing, but coordinating consultants (any number of engineers, landscape architects, A/V designers, etc.), and, once construction starts, making sure contractors are building what they signed up for.

In design, though, the client is super important, for better or worse. For worse you see a building and think, why the hell did the architect do that, but it may not have been a decision the architect wanted to arrive at. Aside from following code, etc., the client really has the final say. You might find this most egregiously when the client is a developer. From a less cynical point of view though, there are so many decisions buried in a design (as I’m sure you know) that don’t necessarily explain themselves in the final product. A good relationship with the client is necessary to make these buried decisions fruitful.

You’re the oldest of four brothers. If you unexpectedly got “freaky Friday-d” with any of them, who would be the easiest for you to swap into without anyone noticing, and how would that be different from your life now? Who would absolutely blow it trying to be you? 

To protect the innocent, I’m going to refer to them as 2, 3 & 4, with me being 1 (the oldest) and 4 being the youngest. For a sense of scale, there is a difference of exactly 7 years between 1 and 4. We have the same birthday.

I think if you took 2 and 3 and mixed them up, you might get something close to me. 4, I think is a combination of the preceding 3, but with the benefit of hindsight in observing us and has done a pretty good job of filtering out a lot of the failed, detrimental, or just shitty aspects of the elders. This is just personality though… not taking into account the day-to-day activities 

4 has experience in a construction-related field, so he could fake it at my work for a bit… I would have a much harder time faking it in his post-doctoral position as a water scientist.

3 is a ski-bum but with a “real job” designing and making outdoor gear. I’ve historically gotten along well with his friends.

2 might be in the CIA….

I’m going with 3, but only once his once-shattered leg is fully healed.

If you had a completely free weekend, no family around, how would you spend it?

Ok so I’m going to set a parameter that this weekend is spend in Ithaca with good (over 60 degree) weather, and also assuming that my all-parent friends have free time too. Friday night – After work do my quick campus climb loop on my bike, shower, head to town for a few drinks with a friend or two at Bike Bar or Personal Best, grab some pizza for the walk home. Saturday morning – After fully hydrating the night before, wake up early-ish then ride up the Black Diamond Trail to the Trumansburg Gimme for an espresso before continuing my ride on the hills between Cayuga and Seneca. Return late morning, early afternoon. Work on some projects in and around the house for the afternoon. Head to town for dinner at CDMX followed by drinks at whichever establishment I hadn’t attended the night before. Bonus if there is live music. Probably stay out too late. Sunday morning – wake up late, make a coffee, then head to the farmers market for breakfast. Pick your own adventure day ending with people coming over to grill food over the fire when the fam gets back.