GRAND ORCHID: Lux Art Institute
Architect-designer: Renzo Zecchetto; Greg Rubin of California's Own Native Landscape Design
"'Lux'-uriously executed from top to bottom and more than just a gallery, Lux is a place that invites visitors to 'see art happen' in a combined artist residence, studio and exhibition space.”

PEOPLE'S CHOICE ORCHID: Kaiser Hospital Rainforest Project
Owner-developer: Kaiser Permanente and Success Optimist Club
Designer: Dan Evers
“A joyous and uplifting makeover to a previously drab and unfriendly interior.” Said one online voter: “This art is not only beautiful, it's functional. It brings smiles, joy and wonder into a place that is too often filled with sadness. This is indeed what art should do.”

R-3 (Architecture)
Location: 2421 India St. in Little Italy
Owner/Developer/Architect: Lloyd Russell
"An audacious and supremely successful antidote to its unforgiving surroundings."

UCSD Moores Cancer Center (Architecture)
Location: 3855 Health Sciences Drive in La Jolla
Architect/Designer: Zimmer Gunsul Frasca
“This could have been a behemoth of a building, but the architects took care to break down the scale and create an environment that nurtures.”

Department of Motor Vehicles office (Architecture)
Location: 6111 Business Center Court in San Ysidro
Architect/Designer: Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects
“One couldn't ask for more out of a government-commissioned building.”

Oceanside Museum of Art – Central Pavilion (Architecture)
Location: 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside
Architect: Frederick Fisher
“This slick, cool addition to a museum dedicated to regional artists is very straightforward with a minimalist approach that speaks of a refinement and economy of means one of the most sophisticated buildings in North County.”

Tweet Street Park (Planning Policies)
Location: Seventh to 10th avenues along Date Street on Cortez Hill in downtown San Diego
Project architects and designers: Estrada Land Planning, Nasland Engineering, Visual Asylum
“(An) urban gem that steals back an unused Caltrans right of way to create a much-needed shady green space Bravo! We need a hundred more of these!”

Point Loma Nazarene University's “green” policies (Sustainable Design)
Location: 3900 Lomaland Drive in Point Loma
Architect-designer: SPG Solar Inc.
"Point Loma Nazarene University is living up to one of their core values. They are inspiring and educating their students, faculty and staff to be stewards of our natural resources.”

The Sprinter light-rail line (Sustainable Design)
Location: Parallel to state Route 78 from Oceanside to Escondido
Owner: North County Transit District
Project architect-designer: DMJM Harris
“The pièce de résistance is the revitalization and reuse of an existing 100-year-old rail corridor. Now that's recycling from the past to build the future.”

New Children's Museum Park (Landscape Architecture)
Location: Island Avenue at Front Street in downtown San Diego
Owner-developer: Centre City Development Corp. and New Children's Museum
Project architect-designer: Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects
“The park enriches the lives of our children, adds beauty and interest to our environment, and is at home with the growing sophistication of our downtown.”

Chollas Creek restoration (Landscape Architecture)
Location: Euclid Avenue between Market Street and San Diego Trolley tracks in Valencia Park
Owner: San Diego city
Architects-designers: Estrada Land Planning, CValdo Corp.; REC Environmental Services; Javier Guerrero, project artist
“This project is a great example of recent efforts to return our concrete drainage ways to the self-sustaining systems that our creeks were meant to be!”

El Jardin Agave (Landscape Architecture)
Location: Grape at State streets in Little Italy
Owner-designer: Martin Schmidt
“This project deserved special recognition as a 'guerrilla community demonstration garden.'”

Pearl Hotel (Interior Design)
Location: 1410 Rosecrans St. in Point Loma
Owner-developer: LWP Group Inc.
Architect-designer: Petar Perisic Architect and Michael Soriano
“Every finely textured square inch reflects a thoughtfulness for scale, color, light and mood We do, however, miss the atomic-age motel sign.”

Our Mother of Confidence Church (Interior Design)
Location: 3131 Governor Drive in University City
Owner-developer: Diocese of San Diego
Architect-designer: M.W. Steele Group
“Our Mother got a makeover! The original building was modest and dutifully served the congregation since 1978. Despite the challenges, a dynamic and vibrant worship space has emerged. One juror remarked 'With a name like this, it would be a sin not to award it an Orchid!'”

Cowboy Star Restaurant (Interior Design)
Location: 640 Tenth Ave., East Village
Owner-developer: Cloghan Concepts
Architect-designer: Bluemotif Architecture
“Saddle up everyone! This is a 1950s Hollywood Western colliding with modern/industrial sophistication – and it might just knock the spurs off your boots.”

Balboa Theatre (Historic Preservation)
Location: 868 Fourth Ave., downtown San Diego
Owner-developer: Centre City Development Corp.
Architect-designer: Westlake Reed Leskosky, Heritage Architecture and PCL Construction
“This is a civic gem that could have easily been lost.”

Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre (Historic Preservation)
Location: 2891 University Ave. in North Park
Owner-developer: Bud Fischer and Lyric Opera San Diego
Architect: Bundy & Thompson
“The rehabilitation of the North Park Theatre is an excellent example of how a building can transform a community.”

Ballpark District Warehouse Buildings (Urban Design)
Location: Eighth Avenue and J Street in East Village
Owner-developer: JMI Realty (San Diego Padres) for Showley Brothers Candy Factory and Shiefer & Sons buildings, Bosa Development for Kvaas Building facade incorporated into The Legends condo tower.
Architect: Studio E
“The Save Our Heritage Organisation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, city of San Diego and the Padres and the various developers deserve to be congratulated for injecting new life into the grand old warehouses of East Village.”

The Lofts at 655 Sixth (vinyl film displays depicting oak trees on west facade) (Public Art)
Owner-developer: OliverMcMillan
Artist: James Gates
"This building would feel naked without its art!"

“Landsailers” (art pieces on utility boxes) (Public Art)
Location(s): La Jolla and Pacific Beach (Log on at sandiego.gov/arts-culture/installations.shtml for sites)
Owner: City of San Diego
Artist: Neal Bociek
“An exemplary exhibit of 10 fanciful air, land and sea vehicles that create a coastal art trail, which unifies several La Jolla and Pacific Beach neighborhoods.”