AWARDS AND JURY COMMENTS
1990-1994

1990 ORCHIDS & ONIONS

1990 ORCHIDS

1. OCEANSIDE CIVIC CENTER (Architecture)
The City of Oceanside catches the wave of new civic centers in North County. This exciting departure from traditional municipal architecture beckons the visitor and creates a focal point of pride for the community. While respecting the Gill designed old city hall, splashes of color, water and allusion bring whimsical life to the civic center. A sense of place, literally historical and geographical, is expressed through the tiled design of the San Luis Rey River coursing through the public plaza and ending in an animated pool of water. The magnificent fountains provide a refreshing retreat and also help remove hot air from city hall. Including the public library as part of the complex invigorates the civic center long after the doors to city hall close.

2. SYMPHONY TOWER MURALS (Fine Arts)
Pretty jazzy in a classical sort of way. This 80 foot long mural pulsates and moves like a score of music; duplicating in a visual work the illusion of faces, repeating rhythms and undulating shadows. In a period in time where abstract art tends to challenge the viewer with a question of what is it? It is refreshing to experience fine art that integrates the elements of abstract art and the technical abilities for fine art. The theme of the lobby mural is expressed in several higher octaves as vignettes adorn the walls of public spaces throughout symphony towers. Encore! Encore!

3. CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY (Arch., L. Arch., Int. Des., Fine Arts)
A rite of passage through the temporal temptations of design leads to a statement of timeless regional character rarely achieved. This environment reverently claims its place in a community littered in pretentiousness. The architecture, unadorned and universal, does not copy as it succeeds in setting a mood of reflection and peace. The heavy fortress gate opens on to a courtyard of monastic music, falling water and a raked arroyo-inspired landscape leading to an intimate citrus grove. The stations of the cross, located down a shaded path, are bronze figurines presented as if still plastic on the sculptors stand. Within the warm gray-white surfaces pick up subtle shadows as natural light is spread behind the cross: its concealed source suggesting a sense of mystery and expectation. A bouquet of orchids to a divine project. This shows what can be accomplished when one answers to a higher authority.

4. SCRIPPS MEMORIAL PARKING GARAGE (Architecture)
A great example of what goes up can also go down. This parking structure sensitively suits the site and the user. The landscaped terrace enhances the hospital entrance and conceals three levels of cars below. The back-lit glass block wall suggests a natural light source and identifies the elevator lobby. Yes, orchids can also bloom underground.

5. COLUMBIA PLACE (Urban Planning)
New life has been breathed into this city block. The design and development team resisted the temptation to level the block and start with a fresh canvas. They so successfully integrated the new condominium buildings with the existing “non-historic” commercial structures that the old and the new are practically indistinguishable from each other. The new construction complements the older buildings in design and use, creating an enlivened pedestrian experience. The interior patios facing the courtyard combine the elements of its urban location with the qualities of the San Diego lifestyle.

6. CARLSBAD RESEVOIR (Environmental Solutions)
Bring on the ducks! The desiltation and retention basin of the Carlsbad Research Center has been transformed from an essential, often neglected element into a pleasant, park-like setting.

7. BOOKSTAR (Interior Design/ Historical Preservation)
Now showing in Pt. Loma – a deco theater converted to a bookstore. No need to check out a book on restoration here; learn by viewing. This refreshing adaptive reuse reverses the dominant trend, i.e. going from film back to the printed word. Reading feels like fun in this festive place. Bookstar allows the book to be better than the movie.

8. CHICANO PARK (Environmental Solutions)
There is life under the underpass. This site for a once planned CHP station has been reclaimed as a neighborhood park. The murals express the historical and political will of the neighborhood culture and lend a sense of place to what could have been a bleak environment.

9. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING (Landscape Architecture)
Lights ahoy! Turning the lights on this historical beauty has given San Diego a fantastic nighttime beacon oriented to both the bay and downtown. If energy conservation should require reductions in lighting, let this be the last to go.

10. UPTOWN DISTRICT (Urban Planning)
Capitalization of an opportunity at its finest. The planners, neighborhood, politicians, architects and developers saw a common vision and worked cooperatively to achieve it. Suburban amenities can be provided in an intimate urban environment, if people remember that they had legs before they had wheels. Revitalization can work if it identifies and respects the existing scale and character of the neighborhood.

11. ANZA BORREGO VISITORS CENTER (Arch., L. Arch.)
A beautiful marriage of a strong site and a sensitive design team, which integrated architecture and landscape architecture so well that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. The building enhances the site and the site enhances the building. Congratulations to the architect and landscape architect for showing restraint in design. Knowing when to stop is a virtue.

12. HYATT AT AVENTINE (Architecture)
Way to turn up the volume on the controversy in the golden triangle. This giant 1930’s radio sends out a message loud, but not always so clear. The Hyatt’s presence makes people feel emotions; for some those feelings are wonderful, and for others they are disturbing. Few buildings today evoke such emotion, that the Hyatt does this is a tribute to its design. What we have is a meticulously detailed, well-executed stately hotel in the grand tradition. It provides a strong urban identity on a main entrance to University Town Center that is sorely lacking in the existing bland collection of glass monoliths. If projects must be big – let them be grand and let the details be fine!

13. 7 ON KETTNER (Architecture)
The architect has waved his magic shoehorn and has created a very fitting expression of contemporary urban housing. This modest residential project takes full advantage of a very difficult triangular site adjacent to the trolley tracks. It successfully turns its back to the trolley while addressing the street in a tradition not unlike the classic row house. Future housing projects in downtown San Diego should look to this building for inspiration.

14. SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTER (Orchid: Architecture, Onion: Planning)
What happened to water front access and building setbacks? Weren’t any lessons learned from the paternal twins next door? A building of this size should have been given a larger site instead of being built right on the waters edge, blocking scenic views and easy public access to the bay. With all the land at their disposal couldn’t the port have selected a more fitting site for San Diego’s largest footprint?
But wait… there is a silver lining (albeit Teflon coated). Both in spite of and because of the scenic site, San Diego sets sail on the convention waters in a most unconventional vessel. The architects have risen to the challenge along the bayfront and have instilled this mammoth center with a sense of lightness and emphatic imagery. Scale, texture, spirit and function meld together in the centers expansive interior. The lofty sails billowing over the roof level plaza create an appropriately magnificent space and the cascading stairs anchor this majestic schooner to the waters edge.

1990 ONIONS

1. CARMEL MOUNTAIN RANCH (Planning)
This is one of San Diego’s largest onion fields, epitomizing the acrid crop sprouting in many of our new unimaginatively master planned communities. Mass grading has transformed the natural land form, and the endless rows of ticky tacky boxes add insult to injury. Now is the time to sensitively and creatively plan more palatable communities.

2. CORONADO (City Planning)
Coronado, your self-destructive tendencies continue. First you welcomed high-rises on the beach and now you allow the scraping of your charming older homes to make way for oversized, under designed shoeboxes. Coronado, arise from your slumber, you are destroying the character and heritage of your proud neighborhoods.

3. SAN MARCOS COMMUNITY BILLBOARD (Graphics)
Come see and read what is grazing along the roadside in San Marcos… a Holstein Modern Electronic Signboard! Does this sophisticated image befit the home of California’s newest Sate University? The only message being communicated here is that San Marcos should lead this creature back to pasture.

4. PLASTIC SURGEONS OFFICE (Interior Design)
Physician heal thyself! This place needs a complete body tuck and face lift.

5. U-STORE (Graphics/ Landscape Architecture)
Super graphics garnish this alpine slope. Through a combination of garish signage, an effective lack of landscaping and still raw graded slopes, this project calls attention to itself like a crudely bandaged thumb.

 

1991 ORCHIDS & ONIONS
 

1991 ORCHIDS

1. ESCONDIDO COMMUNITY SCULTPURE (Fine Arts)
Click your heels three times. A courageous, thoughtful piece that welcomes you home. It humanizes and defines the Hidden Valley.

2. ESCONDIDO TRANSIT (Architecture)
We’re off to see the Wizard from a warm very friendly, and functional terminal.

3. J. STREET INN (Architecture)
“I am proud to live here, this is home”. Wonderful forms and details, livable spaces, a beautifully landscaped courtyard, and a friendly atmosphere. Budget housing with dignity and all the colors this side of the rainbow.

4. POWAY BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT (Environmental Solutions)
A germ of an idea whose time has come. Responsible integration of advanced land use planning and environmental planning. This biological assessment will improve the clarity of the crystal ball and help property owners, developers and the City properly plan for species protection at the front end of a project.

5. EGYPTIAN COURT APTS. & BELMONT PARK ROLLER COASTER (Historical Preservation)
These prior onions brought tears to everyone’s eyes. Someone heard the cries and have restored them to their former uniqueness. We especially applaud the beauty of these orchids.

6. GORILLA TROPICS DONOR PLAQUES (Graphic Design)
No apeing of other zoos here. A welcome change from the typical brass plaque on a wall. These monuments to the generosity of the zoo’s patrons are truly an enhancement to the gifts they funded. They exhibit the same level of sensitivity that was created for the gorillas.

7. THE WAVE CONDOMINIUMS (Architecture)
Bitchin’ house, Dude! This wave could only have been formed in North County. You really can do things that are interesting and have character that fit nicely into their neighborhood. Auntie Em would hang 10 here any day.

8. OFFISYS EXECUTIVE SUITES (Interior Design)
Truly executive for any executive. Elegance and integrity for the small and not so powerful. All three facilities are a refreshing place to greet your clients from Kansas.

9. PUMP STATION NO. 2 (Architecture)
The jury was pumped! This type of building would normally be as insignificant as another wart on the wicked witch’s nose. However, the wonderful details, integrated passive solar and dignified simplicity make this straight forward building a true public work of art.

10. SWAMI’S BEACH ACCESS (Environmental Solutions)
A subtle transition from vehicle to beach that moves you from asphalt parking lot to concrete steps, wooden decks, and pebblestone beach. The angles give you great visual access to one of the still relatively natural environmental wonders “the ocean”. This solution magnifies the beauty of the surrounding area by its simplicity.

1991 ONIONS

1. MTDB HARBORVIEW TROLLEY CENTER (Urban Planning)
“Harborview or Harbor-Wall” – After three successive orchids for enlightened transportation planning, the fragrance must have gone to the heads of the MTDB board. Separating the City from the bay neighborhood is not worth the traffic benefits. Let’s hope they get out of the veggie patch and back to the flower garden.

2. PEACHTREE INN (Architecture)
“Kansas tornado, where are you when we need you. Yuk! A Pepto Bismol pink palace of oppression. The institutional security and inhuman scale make you long for the wide open plains of Kansas. Rescue me Toto.”

3. LA MESA REDEVELOPMENT (Urban Planning)
“Urban mixed use can’t be built like a suburban strip center. As a result, the automobile and economics clobber the pedestrians and destroy the charm of downtown La Mesa. Mixed use is a great planning idea, but the implementation brings tears to your eyes. The project is as carefully sited as Dorothy’s house in Munchkinland.”

4. JACKSON DRIVE EXTENSION (Environmental Solutions, Urban Planning) “They’re continuing to pave paradise; this time with a road through one of the County’s few natural parklands. This yellow brick road holds no magic along the way.”

5. LAMANCHA COMMERCIAL CENTER (Architecture)
“Please, Wizard, please, make it disappear. The men of LaMancha have planted this weed amongst the poppies of our neighborhood.”

6. EMERALD SHAPERY TOWER (Interior Design)
“I am speechless, I am breathless, I am on the verge of a coronary. This is the Emerald City Las Vegas style. Even the great Oz knows overdone when he sees it.”

7. MIRAMAR COLLEGE (Architecture)
“We could grant you your wish for an orchid if you perform two simple tasks. Find the front door and provide some landscaping in place of the sea of asphalt. This cold blue box would be more at home in an industrial park than on a college campus.”

8. SUNBOW SLOPE (Environmental Solutions)
“This ain’t the plains of Kansas, so how about starting to work with our wonderfully rolling hills. Throw away the straight-edge and rediscover the French curve.”

THE WIZARD OF “ODDS” AWARD

EMERALD SHAPERY TOWER (Architecture)
 This project had a wizard who was all too human. It was as rough a journey for the jury as for Dorothy – “If it only had a heart” – “If it only had a brain” – But courage it has – a lion’s share! This is charisma and audacity.

HONORABLE MENTION “SEEDS”

The jury would like to acknowledge that the following seeds have been sown throughout San Diego County. While not yet in full bloom, each of these projects represents concepts and direction that, if cultivated by others, could blossom into fields of orchids.

SAN DIEGO PUBLIC ART MASTER PLAN… A public art program that’s truly community driven.

GENESIS SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER… An “Identity” finally emerges in a commercial strip. The Jetsons have arrived in Kansas.

1515 NINTH AVENUE… Affordable infill with a flair.

BAYFRONT SCULPTURE IN POINT LOMA… A watermelon award for being plump, juicy and just a bit seedy. Thanks for opening your private collection for the public’s enjoyment.

1992 ORCHIDS & ONIONS

DISTRICT 1

ORCHIDS

1. SAN DIEGO MISSION VALLEY RIVER WALK (Environmental Solutions): A show of hands for the environmental creativity epitomized by the River Walk where any constituent strolling next to the river would reminisce of going to the ol’ swimming hole.

2. TROLLEY BARN PARK (Landscape): A source of pride to the University Heights Planning group and the local people. This is a perfect example of the community turning around an unwanted development and utilizing the history of the area. Any family worth its value would love to picnic here.

ONIONS

1. HAZARD CENTER TRAFFIC WAY (Planning): How do you cross the street? Should this be renamed “Traffic Hazard Center?” This is one initiative that needs to be re-evaluated by all learned voters.

DISTRICT 2

ORCHIDS

1. MY BEAUTIFUL DOG-O-MAT (Interior Design)
Keep America Clean – wash the dog. Even the First Lady would wash her precious Millie here. The interior of this dog-o-mat is a great use of economical materials with a delightful mix of colors.

2. UCSD MEDICAL CENTER SEISMIC RENOVATION (Planning)
Hats off to an incredibly successful makeover from a dumpy hospital tower to a graceful building. The tower enhances the neighborhood. This is an excellent design solution that shows more creativity than most new structures when the original site constraints are considered.

ONIONS

1. VILLAGE HILLCREST (Architecture)
Holy Smokes!!! This building is so big and monstrous, it’s the “Jabba the Hut” of buildings.

DISTRICT 3

ORCHIDS

1. UCSD SNAKEWALK (Art)
This project is a real charmer. A truly remarkable art piece which utilizes natural materials, true craftsmanship and construction. Special thanks to one local tax-paying citizen who provided the funding for this project.

ONIONS

1. UCSD SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE BUILDING (Architecture & Interior Design)
Is this where doctors learn their bedside manner? Elevators to nowhere and plastic walls look like something right out of a bad science fiction movie.

DISTRICT 4

ORCHIDS

1. SHERMAN HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER (Historic Preservation)
This project crosses economic lines and shouts preservation is for everyone. A faded lime was turned into a vibrant lemon as a service to the people. The community center will provide a meeting place for the diverse groups that makeup Sherman Heights.

2. CITY FRONT TERRACE (Graphics & Signage)
This is a construction site with class! This project defied city ordinances with colorful signs and banners and changed customary eyesore into a pleasant visual experience which celebrates San Diego.

3. FIFTH AVENUE RESTAURANT ROW (Historic Preservation)
Thanks to the restauranteurs of Fifth Avenue for taking a chance and giving us a downtown we San Diegans can be proud of. This is definitely a boost for the nightlife of San Diego.

4. HARBORVIEW TROLLEY STATION (Community Involvement)
Speak up and be heard or as the saying goes “The squeaky wheel gets the oil”. This orchid goes to the community for insisting that the trolley be changed from an elevated structure that would block the bay view to an underground structure.

ONIONS

1. ONE HARBOR DRIVE CONDOMINIUMS (Architecture)
Corndogs in the sky with a side of onion rings. The worst of Honolulu comes to San Diego. This is a poor solution for the waterfront – the brown glass and stone completely ignore the Southern California light.

DISTRICT 5

ORCHIDS

1. NORMAN SENIOR CENTER (Architecture, Interior Design & Landscaping) After the arduous campaign trail it is a pleasure to visit the Orchid Winning Norman Senior Center. Such a beautifully designed building brings pleasure to its seniors. It is done thoughtfully with an outstanding combination of architecture, interior design and landscaping.

ONIONS

1. RADISSON SUITES HOTEL (Architecture)
Yikes, how can they possibly stack motels that high? This twelve-story motel features outside walks that lead to the rooms, exposing guests to the wind, rain, and other elements. Be sure to bring your umbrella.

DISTRICT 6

ONIONS

1. CITY OF CARLSBAD SPLIT BARS (Lack of Community Involvement)
Much ado about nothing. An onion to those members of the community of Carlsbad for not getting involved when they had the chance.

SCATHING SCALLION AWARDS

GRAFFITI TAGGERS
Parents! Do you know where your children are? To the spray painting, marker desecrating sociopaths looking for identity, marking their territory like dogs. They lower the aesthetic quality of the neighborhoods to the level of sub-human species and soil their own nests.

CITY OF SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL
The gutting of the Planning Department was poor planning for the future of our City. If anyone needs a lesson in planning it is the City Council.

LPS LIGHTING
America’s Finest City bathed in yellow. When an attorney goes to the City Council to buy into this he truly becomes the Prince of Darkness. Let’s turn the light on special interest groups and enlighten the politicians.

SPECIAL BLOOMING ORCHID AWARD

ORCHID FOR PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION TO BALBOA PARK
The “Jewel” of San Diego! Balboa Park is such a benefit to San Diego in so many ways. It is often overlooked and taken for granted. However, we have a debt to the past and an obligation to the future for the continued preservation and beautification of this “Jewel.”

THE GREAT DEBATE – ORCHID VS. ONION

WAFFLE AWARDS
MORMON TEMPLE
More separation of church and interstate? Exactly what is the issue here?

MIRAMAR METROPLEX
Like the boisterous representative from an outlying district, this structure demands attention.

MIDWAY MEDICAL OFFICE BUILDING
With the diversity of constituents, this building provides something for everybody except sense.

1993 ORCHIDS & ONIONS

1993 ORCHIDS

GRAND AWARD: For Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landscape, Interior Design and Lighting: City Front Terrace, 500 West Harbor Drive, San Diego

ARCHITECTURE: Wall Street Café (former Security Pacific Bank Building), 1044 Wall Street, La Jolla

ARCHITECTURE: San Miguel Fire District Headquarters, 2850 Via Orange Way Spring Valley

HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Americanization School, 1210 Division Street, Oceanside

HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Pannikin, 1235 Coast Blvd., La Jolla

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: Hilleary Park, Community and Hilleary Roads, Poway

LIGHTING: Mast Street Bridge, Santee

INTERIOR DESIGN: South Bay Regional Center/ Superior and Municipal Court, 500 C Third Ave., Chula Vista

FINE ARTS: Museum of Contemporary Art, 600 West Broadway, San Diego

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Imperial Avenue Improvements, 61st through 69th streets, Encanto

CITY REGIONAL AND URBAN PLANNING: Vista Townsite Specific Plan, between North Santa Fe, East Vista Way and Los Angeles Drive, Vista

ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS: Rohr Industries, 850 Lagoon Drive, Chula Vista

ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS: Central Beach Restrooms, 900 Ocean Boulevard, Coronado

1993 ONIONS

MAJOR RAW ONION AWARD: For Architecture, City Planning and Interior Design:
Hyatt, One Market Place, Downtown

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Pioneer Industrial, Hwy. 78, north side near Santa Fe Road, San Marcos

FINE ARTS: Major Market “The Rocks,” 1855 Center City Parkway, Escondido

INTERIOR DESIGN: For Men Only, 1263 Garnet Avenue, Pacific Beach

HISTORIC PRESERVATION: City of San Diego, No historic plan

HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Salk Institute Expansion, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla

ARCHITECTURE: Vons, Rosecrans and Nimitz Boulevard

ARCHITECTURE: Risen Savior Lutheran Church, 625 Otay Lakes Road, Chu

ARCHITECTURE: San Diego Municipal Court, 1409 Fourth Avenue

 

1994 ORCHIDS & ONIONS

1994 ORCHIDS

1. VILLAGE HILLCREST (Blooming Orchid Award): Once a mass of beige stucco, the developer has made the necessary changes to complete the architect’s vision. The Orchids and Onions committee is pleased that the developer took our 1992 comments to heart, kept his speech short that night and went back to the coloring board to see what changes might turn Jabba the Hutt into Princess Leia. Obviously the force was with him and so this special award replaces the old onion.

2. UCSD ENGINEERING BUILDING # 1 (Architecture): Makes sense this was a home- grown project. Where else would you find better Engineers that at UCSD? Fine buildings but maybe they could get the English Department to think up some jazzier names.

3. THE CITY OF OCEANSIDE’S YOUTH SHELTER (City, Regional & Urban Planning): This project involved moving two single family residences with detached garages from their original locations to a City-owned lot at Barnes and Mason Streets. They were remodeled into a twelve-bed residential facility to provide shelter for homeless and runaway teenagers. The project is a 24-hour State licensed shelter serving boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 17 years. This is the only shelter of its kind in North-coastal San Diego County.

4. HARRY GRIFFIN PARK, LA MESA (Environmental Solutions): The project transformed an under-utilized portion of the park from an abandoned reservoir basin with cobble-strewn slopes into a rich habitat for wildlife and human enjoyment. The overlooks are constructed using rough-sawn timbers and feature interpretive graphics to help educate the public on the merits of xeriscape and native plantings.

5. THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AND HEALTH CENTER, KEARNY MESA (Special Orchid in Graphic Design, Interior Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Fine Arts): That’s a whole bouquet of Orchids and you can see why it couldn’t be narrowed down. There is distraction and relief, everywhere the eye turns. This is an innovative, fun, child-friendly way to orient directions for a Hospital made for kids. A very helpful solution for what could be a hurtful place.

6. GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH, NORTH PARK (Historic Preservation): Funny, last year we had a Lutheran Church that won an Onion, because it looked like a bank. Grace Lutheran, though, has always been a community landmark, a lovely church, now that it has been restored and updated, using one of the original design firms that won a National AIA award for the church when it was built. Its restoration now deserves new recognition.

7. THE JOHN M. AND SALLY B. THORNTON HOSPITAL, LA JOLLA (Interior Design): This Hospital/ Luxury Hotel gives patients a real feeling of luxury and seclusion. If I were hospitalized, I would choose Thornton merely on the feeling I get when I enter. Four stars to the design team. This is a hospital… the AMA is scheduling its National Convention there next year. The Doctors operate in French. Ambulances get valet parking. High Colonic in the back, high tea out front. Reserve now for Mother’s Day brunch.

8. JACOB WEINBERGER COURTHOUSE (Historic Preservation): For once, the Government did something right. This distinguished building harks back a time when San Diego’s buildings had real class. Too many of our finest old buildings have been sacrificed to new office towers and shopping malls. This building was built in 1913 for $150,000. Can you imagine that? $150,000 today wouldn’t pay for the permits for the building. It truly is a beautiful, classical building.

9. THE PAST & FUTURE SCULPTURES AT NEXUS CENTER (Fine Arts): Contrary to its title theme, this work conveys a message that is timeless. It is beautiful in texture, patina and form. It can’t be beheld without a kind of reverence, not only for its beauty but for its glorification of frail human endeavors.

10. THE MT. WOODSON COUNTRY CLUB GOLF CART BRIDGE (Environmental Solutions): This project incorporates the existing castle, a State Historic landmark, into a residential development that preserves the structure in its original context. The golf course and residence are built so as to safeguard existing habitats, live oaks. A refreshing diversion, from the typical slash and burn development approach.

11. SCRIPPS PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE, UCSD (Architecture): An elegant and sophisticated solution, linking the East and West campuses of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and pretty famous, too. It got a lot of ink for its radical design and use of Aerospace materials, before the bridge was ever built. The bridge has long been needed and far surpasses similar structures in grace and beauty.

12. THE SAN DIEGO ZOO, NIGHTTIME ZOO AND TREEHOUSE RESTAURANT (Graphic Design, Landscape Architecture, Lighting Design and Environmental Solutions): It combines a stunning use of post and beam architecture that maintains previously established themes with a variety of local and exotic plants, spectacular lighting displays and fascinating graphic descriptive panels. An artful blending of function and environment, as skilled and reasonable as if the animals had designed it themselves, for the maximum satisfaction of visitors to this special place in San Diego’s past and present.

13. THE DEL MAR RACETRACK, GRANDSTAND VERSION TWO (Waffle Award for Architecture): And they’re off! Or on! Or put-off! Taste and tacky in a dead heat! The daily double-take. A lock or a longshot. Take your pick, take your chances. Bing Crosby would be proud but what about Frank Lloyd Wright? Where the turf meets the barf? Well, you know what they say; there are horses for courses.

14. CHILDRENS MUSEUM, DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO (Interior Design): What a pleasure watching the transformation of a run-down warehouse in the heart of the city, into a colorful environment for kids. Energy! Excitement! Color! What a combination! This is no longer a drab corner but a place of life. The museum preserved the integrity of the warehouse and used it to full advantage. After all, kids like nothing better than an empty box to play in.

1994 ONIONS

1. THE CENTRE CITY DEVELOPMENT BOARD (Green Onion): Approval of the Demolition of the TM Cobb Building, The First and Last Chance Saloon and Associated Buildings. A slap in the face of the Gaslamp National Register Historical District as well as the faces of citizens yet to come, who in the future may stroll the streets of Gaslamp, encounter the TM Cobb Building and the saloon and say, that was the way buildings were in San Diego and they were good. The Last Chance Saloon’s not going to get its last chance.

2. THE ALPINE CENTER (Architecture): Driving out to Alpine, you conjure up an image of a rustic, rural community of corrals and horses and general stores where they still sell pickles out of a barrel. And then, BONG! You get there, expecting Pace Picante Sauce and you get something else. This stuff wasn’t made in San Antonio, it was made in New York City.

3. THE HILLSDALE PUMP STATION (Environmental Solutions): We’ve all got to have water, right? But in our own individual houses, we design attractive ways to get it. Not so on Hillsdale, the equivalent of bare plumbing in the kitchen.

4. THE PLAZA BONITA SIGN IN SOUTH BAY (Graphic Design): Yet another very large electronic sign has been added to visually assault drivers along every major highway. Don’t they know that the days of bigger is better in signage are over? We think less is better. A contender last year, before losing out in the finals, this year The Plaza Bonita sign goes all the way. It is from the Huffington School of Signage.

5. THE PLANNERS OF HARBOR DRIVE, Specifically in front of The Marriott Hotel (Planning): The Trolley tracks do not cross Harbor Drive but you would think they did when you drive across the architectural treatment of this road. The paving blocks are not too bad but the transition from blacktop to paving blocks and back again ten times in 400 feet certainly will get your attention. They sort of look like worn-down speed bumps. This onion needs to be re-cooked.

6. PARK AND RIDE AT SABRE SPRINGS IN NORTH SAN DIEGO (Planning): It is a mere ¼ mile from the nearest bus stop and is so well hidden from the street view that it nicely accommodates vandals and thieves. By far the most thoughtful touch was the placement of ample handicapped parking spaces adjacent to the double flight of stairs up to the street level. This project was completed, paid for and locked up. As far as we know, there are no plans to use this lot.

7. HAMEL’S ACTION SPORTS CENTER IN MISSION BEACH (Stinky Onion Award for Architecture): It looks like a cross between something from Dungeons and Dragons and the setting for a bad gothic movie. The color was created by a three-year old who mixed every color of paint in the water-color box. Peeee-Yeeeww!! This Dracula is a flagrant affront to San Diego’s gorgeous coast line.