CityScape: This Year’s Orchids and Onions of San Diego and Tijuana Architecture

A stylish nail salon, a catchy restroom-and-shower station at La Jolla Cove and several species of housing are among projects recognized at this year’s Orchids & Onions, held Oct. 3 at West, a new residential tower in downtown San Diego.

Sixteen designs were selected as sweet or acrid, from a field of more than 100. Tijuana was included for the first time in years, in conjunction with the yearlong World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana 2024.

Orchid-winner Altezza in Tijuana, by Saen Studio and Design Opera Architects, is a seven-story luxury apartment building with concise cubic forms enclosing spacious interiors.

Its open, airy architecture is made possible by the spare concrete frame, a structural approach generally not feasible in San Diego, where the cost of concrete construction is prohibitive and wood-and-stucco are the norm.

Eight-story Orchid-winner Sasan Lofts in Mission Hills, by Nakhshab Development & Design, is covered with pink stucco. Its curvy Miami Art Deco vibe provides a “presence that is refreshing for San Diego,” according to the jury, and its 53 micro studios add significant housing to the area.

Both of these Orchids, though, may not smell so sweet to neighbors. They are out of scale with surrounding buildings, but the fact is that such drastic increases in density are becoming the new norm as cities like San Diego struggle to meet housing demand. The ongoing challenge to local government is to create effective design review that does not slow approvals and increase costs.

The O&O jury also singled out smaller buildings that stand out among their generic peers.

Juror Rosa Agraz, an architect and interior designer with offices in Mexico City and San Diego, was smitten with MINIA, a nail salon in Tijuana designed by simbiosis.

“I love this small project,” she said. “It’s very simple, well designed and thought out. The white tiles on the floor continue along the walls, right up to the ceiling,” which unifies the space and amplifies the lighting. Counters, pedicure sinks and orange-uphostered seats are built in, not the usual add-ons. The architects did a lot of work themselves.

“These are very young architects,” Agraz said, “and there’s this spirit when you’re younger that you don’t have as many jobs so you put all your time into a project, you put your hands on it.”

Another of her favorite Orchids is Scripps Park Pavilion: public restrooms and outdoor showers at La Jolla Cove, designed by Safdie Rabines Architects.

“Public restrooms don’t have to be horrible,” she said. She admires the flying V roof, elevated above walls to leave a gap for natural ventilation, with the V forms mimicking soaring seagulls and concrete walls textured and colored to blend with the coastal habitat.

At the opposite end of the size spectrum are Orchids such as Mira Mesa High School’s sculptural, acoustically-refined music building; the UC San Diego’s Franklin Antonio Hall, an angular canyon-view research building that represents the latest in sustainable design; renovation of the Lafayette Hotel, with a special nod to interior lighting; and Fox Point Farms in Encinitas, with organic gardens, a microbrewery and a greenhouse-like activities center that make this new neighborhood a lot more inviting than your typical suburban tract.

Orchids and Onions are intended to promote dialog, and in this sense Onions are as vital as Orchids. Yet there were only two Onions this year, likely due to pushback (maybe even the threat of legal action) from developers and architects who earned them in the past.

One Onion went to the City of San Diego’s stormwater infrastructure and system management, where mis-management has resulted in severe flooding, mudslides, erosion, sinkholes and expensive property damage. The city has pledged millions, but some families have lost everything.

Another Onion went to the three-sided billboard at the Gaslamp Trolley Station, with its giant LED screens — jurors called it a “massive monstrosity” at the gateway to San Diego’s precious historical district.

While jurors for other design programs often make their selections from afar, based on Zoom meetings, the 10-member O&O jury spent a long day visiting Tijuana nominees and another inspecting San Diego candidates. Props to O&O for taking the time.

Photos and descriptions of this year’s Orchids & Onions can be found online. 

Dirk Sutro has written extensively about architecture and design in Southern California and is the author of architectural guidebooks to San Diego and UC San Diego. His column appears monthly in Times of San Diego.

CityScape is supported by the San Diego Architectural Foundation, promoting outstanding architecture, landscape, interior and urban design to improve the quality of life for all San Diegans.