Architecture awards reveal epic buildings and eyesores
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The Sasan Lofts building in Mission Hills. Photo: Jim Brady, courtesy of San Diego Architectural Foundation
All eyes are on the properties featured by the San Diego Architectural Foundation's 48th annual Orchids and Onions awards, released this month.
Why it matters: The interactive, community-based competition lets the public weigh in on the buildings, parks and plazas that stand out in our city — for better or worse.
The big picture: The jury, a group of design professionals and artists, visited and evaluated the design of more than a 100 projects nominated by the public in various categories.
- Nearly a dozen projects around the county were praised as orchids and two were condemned as onions.
- No spaces or places won the top prize in either category, which requires a unanimous vote.
Zoom in: Several iconic properties won orchid awards in public and private architecture, and for their interior design concepts. Here are a few:
- Mira Mesa High School's Music Building, Scripps Park Pavilion in La Jolla Cove and UCSD's Franklin Antonio Hall won orchids in public architecture, with jurors noting their intentional details.
- Mothership, a sci-fi tiki bar in South Park, won an orchid for its interior design that takes visitors on a tropical space adventure.
- The opulent Lafayette Hotel, recently named best new hotel by Esquire Magazine, was honored for its historic preservation and architectural lighting.
- Children's Park Downtown, which was closed for years as it was getting a $9 million makeover, won an orchid for landscape architecture.
- The teen jury loved Fox Point Farms, a new "agrihood" for more sustainable living in Encinitas.
Between the lines: Sasan Lofts is likely the most controversial award-winner, as neighbors both love and hate the eight-story, mixed-use property in Mission Hills.
- The jury said the "pink, Miami-esque" building has "a presence that is refreshing for San Diego."
- A new sidewalk breakfast cafe and tapas bar, Paradis, and rooftop restaurant cocktail bar, Communion, are set to open at the building in November.
The intrigue: Tijuana was included in the competition for the first time this year.
- Parral, a multi-family project with floor-to-ceiling windows and panoramic views of the city, and Altezza, a modern multi-family concrete structure offering an indoor-outdoor experience, won orchids for private architecture.
- The jury was impressed by the charred wood siding and cobblestone flooring of Kemuri Ramen and the trendy, futuristic nail salon Minia. Both won orchids for interior design.
The other side: An onion went to the "MTS Massive Monstrosity at Gaslamp Trolley Station," a 50-foot triangular video billboard with "large Las Vegas-esque advertisements" that distract from the informative transit schedules, the jury said.
- San Diego's aging and deteriorating stormwater infrastructure and system management earned the onion for public policy.
