Architects honor best local projects

The San Dieguito Lagoon master plan won a special award for urban solutions.

See this online slide show of some of the winners.

Winding up San Diego's first "Archtoberfest" celebrating local architecture, the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects handed out 31 Design Awards Thursday, ranging from grand monumental landmarks like the new downtown Central Library to a modest infill lawyer's office.

Three outside jurors looked over 67 entries before bestowing five honor awards, five merit awards, three citations and 16 special category awards. The awards were announced at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union at San Diego State University.

Two individual awards also were announced -- the young architect of the year, J. Antonio Garcia, and the patron of the year, JMI Realty, which oversaw the development of Petco Park and the ballpark district downtown.

Brian Dougherty , an architect with offices in Costa Mesa and Oakland and this year's president of the AIA California Council, said the jury focused on how projects adhered to the "program" or purpose dictated by the builder or owner.

Sources: ESRI; American Institute of Architects

Aaron Atencio UT

"I was very impressed with the quality of design," Dougherty said. "I loved the diversity of scale and types of projects, and overall I thought especially the sensitivity to sustainability and creating buildings appropriate to their site was very high."

The awards come at a time of slow but steady improvement in the development climate after several years in the doldrums following the financial meltdown of 2008.

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Architects honor best local projects