The San Diego 2025 Design Awards, organized by the American Institute of Architects, have recognized a diverse range of architectural designs spanning over a century, from Baroque masterpieces to contemporary innovations.
On Friday night, an esteemed panel of architects gathered to honor the recipients at the waterfront Eve venue in downtown San Diego.
Twenty-one exceptional projects were celebrated, highlighting their contributions to the city’s architectural landscape.
Among the distinguished Honor Award winners, Torrey Heights shone prominently.
Situated on a ten-acre research campus east of I-5 in Del Mar, this project was expertly crafted by Flad Architects and is a significant upgrade to a previously uninspiring area filled with office and medical buildings.
Comprising three five-story structures along with a curved “amenities” building featuring a café and communal spaces, Torrey Heights is strategically organized around a landscaped plaza.
Flad Architects described the exterior design as featuring “coffered” and “tessellated” shapes, reflecting the organic lines of the nearby coastal bluffs.
The integration of expansive glass and wide doors imbues the structures with a seamless connection to outdoor spaces.
Planned by Bionic Landscape, the plaza is surrounded by charming footpaths that weave through beds of succulents, native grasses, and colorful flowers, highlighted by a striking chrome sculpture by British artist Richard Hudson.
Juror Karen Lu, design director and associate principal at Snow Kreilich Architects in Minneapolis, shared her appreciation for two standout renovations among the Honor Award winners.
One notable project is Nancy Ridge, which transformed a dormant manufacturing facility in Sorrento Mesa into a vibrant life sciences and lab center.
Designed by EYRC of Los Angeles, the renovation showcases an earth-toned façade of smooth stucco, accented by steel beams and perforated steel railings.
The landscape, crafted by Spurlock, features a “parklette” along the sidewalk, creating an intimate public area amidst the typically stark industrial surroundings.
Another renovation that caught Lu’s eye is the $125 million restoration of Jacobs Music Center.
Once a grand Fox movie palace established in 1929, it now serves as the San Diego Symphony’s acoustic haven, with a history that includes being buried beneath high-rises in 1989.
HGA Architecture led the restoration, focusing on reviving Baroque elements, reconfiguring seating, and significantly improving the acoustics with expert acoustician Paul Scarbrough’s input, which included adjustable louvers and an orchestra surround.
Awards juror David Dowell, partner at Eldorado Architects, emphasized his admiration for projects showcasing historical relevance.
He remarked on the significance of three top awards going to such endeavors, highlighting how the blending of time periods, respectful preservation, and ingenuity in modern approaches create a collective architectural narrative.
Alongside Jacobs Music Center, Dowell applauded the extensive rehabilitation of the Botanical Building in Balboa Park.
This historic structure, originally designed for the Panama-California Exposition, is one of the largest wood lath buildings globally.
After over a century, it underwent a meticulous restoration, involving the expertise of Platt/Whitelaw Architects, preservation architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, and various specialists.
The restoration revived weathered redwood lath and copper elements and repaired arched steel trusses while ensuring a century-old Moreton Bay Fig tree thrived throughout the process.
Another Honor Award was presented to PATH Villas El Cerrito, a unique mixed-use development by LPA Design Studios.
This vibrant structure, characterized by striking yellow fins, provides housing and essential services to the formerly unhoused, cleverly incorporating repurposed shipping containers as living units.
On the other end of the spectrum, Civita—located on a former sand and gravel quarry in Mission Valley—received an Honor Award for its master plan designed by Carrier Johnson + Culture.
This thoughtfully organized neighborhood, which includes 4,800 residential units and a 14-acre park, fosters a genuine community feeling and is conveniently located near a San Diego Trolley station.
In recognition of structural integrity and preservation, York Hall at the University of California, San Diego won an Honor Award for its seismic upgrade conducted by LPA Design Studios and Orion Structural Engineering.
The upgrade retained its original colonnade of fluted concrete columns, reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural style.
The Legacy Award was given to Paradise Point Resort, previously known as Vacation Village, located on Mission Bay.
This venue, which opened in 1962, showcases whimsical architecture influenced by Polynesian themes, featuring sweeping wooden roofs and adobe bungalows, alongside a unique lookout tower adorned with a rebar sculpture by Val Agnoli.
Mira Costa College in Oceanside received a Patron Award for its commitment to enhancing design quality through several innovative buildings like the Health and Wellness Hub designed by HMC Architects and a newly designed Chemistry and Biotechnology building by HED.
Design elements include vibrant façades and collaborative spaces that invigorate the campus.
The University of California, San Diego also saw recognition with its new 8980 Building on Villa La Jolla Drive.
Designed by Gensler, this headquarters for the Division of Extended Studies is a straightforward yet well-proportioned modern structure that enhances the campus’s architectural footprint.
Other noteworthy award recipients included the RIC office building in Tijuana by Saen Studio, George Walker Smith Education Campus by RNT Architects, and a residential house by Eric Johnson.
The awards also recognized a three-unit residential building by Jeff Svitak, as well as a conceptual design by RNT for a new Ocean Beach Pier and a striking vision for a binational project bridging San Diego and Tijuana by Miller Hull.
The evening wrapped up with student accolades, awarding Tyler West for sustainable design and diversity scholarships to students Austin Wiggins and Manuel Arellano.
Dirk Sutro, a seasoned writer on architecture and design in Southern California, is the author of guidebooks that highlight the architectural beauty of San Diego and UC San Diego, contributing regularly to Times of San Diego and other publications.
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