Celebrating the best of the best in design excellence, craftsmanship, and sustainability year-round
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The best of the best in San Diego/Tijuana
The annual design awards shine a light on projects that are pushing innovation, growth, sustainability and renewal in San Diego and Tijuana. Celebrate groundbreaking architectural projects, treasured icons, and exceptional design concepts that have redefined the boundaries of creativity and design in our region.
Legendary design pros
Every year the Design Awards Ceremony attracts over 250+ architects, design experts and advocates as we gather in celebration of the places, spaces, and people that make our region unique, making this a tremendous opportunity for fraternizing and networking.
Distinguished work
Gain inspiration from the remarkable achievements of the award winners, groundbreaking architectural projects and exceptional design concepts. These exemplary projects are selected through a rigorous process and demonstrate sustainability, social responsibility, and a strong sense of place.
THE VENUE:
EVE at RaDD
Located at the top of the new Edge building in the IQHQ RaDD development, EVE offers 270-degree views of the San Diego Bay, indoor-outdoor flow, 19-foot ceilings, and a modern design tailored for celebration. Designed by our member firm Gensler, this space is a stunning backdrop for a night of design excellence.
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2025 AWARDS PROGRAM
To provide a fair and equitable review, a jury is recruited from esteemed architect members from non-local metropolitan areas. The recruitment of a non-local jury of highly distinguished architects ensures that the work awarded embodies design excellence to the highest extent.
2025 dESIGN aWARDS jURY
Design Awards Jury Chair:
Ernesto Cragnolino, FAIA
Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ernesto Cragnolino grew up in Columbus, Ohio and Long Island, New York before moving to Austin to attend the University of Texas where he obtained degrees in Architecture and Architectural Engineering while completing the Plan II Liberal Arts Honors Program. After gaining experience at several Austin based firms Ernesto joined Alterstudio in 2003, forming a partnership with Kevin Alter and Tim Whitehill in 2009. Ernesto has focused on the design of a variety of project types with a focus on single family residential. Ernesto has taught design and construction at The University of Texas School of Architecture, with an emphasis towards building envelope design and detailing. Ernesto was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2016.
Brian Phillips, FAIA
Brian Phillips, FAIA is Founding Principal of ISA, and serves as Creative Director across all aspects of the firm’s work. He earned his MArch from the University of Pennsylvania and BS from the University of Oklahoma. He has lectured widely on urbanism, housing, and the work of ISA. Brian was awarded a 2011 Pew Fellowship in the Arts and was named an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York in 2015. He is a Lecturer at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and has taught visiting studios at the University of Miami and Parsons the New School for Design.
ISA’s work has been featured in ARCHITECT, Architectural Record, DWELL, Metropolis, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, and on NPR Radio. The office has won numerous local, regional, and national design citations, including five AIA National Housing Awards, the AIA Philadelphia Gold Medal, and an AIA COTE Top Ten Award.
Karen Lu, FAIA, NOMA
Karen's commitment to design excellence and to positively impacting future generations of architecture professionals and global citizens is evident in her professional work and service to the AIA and her community. Karen advocates for equity in the built environment and the profession and leads the studio's initiatives in this work. Her passion for making strategic connections and building meaningful relationships inspires Karen's approach to integrated design thinking.
Karen serves on local and national design award juries and presents the studio's work at universities and professional conferences. She has led and collaborated on projects that have won National AIA Honor Awards, AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Project Awards, AIA Minnesota Honor Awards, and Progressive Architecture Awards. In addition, Karen has been recognized for her leadership locally and nationally with the AIA Minnesota and National AIA Young Architect Awards. Karen currently serves on the national AIA Committee on Design Advisory Group.
David Dowell, AIA
David Dowell, AIA, is a partner with El Dorado. With almost thirty years of experience as a practicing architect and educator, David’s portfolio spans a wide range of typologies, scales, and locations. Projects under David’s leadership have won dozens of national, regional and local AIA and ASLA Design Excellence Awards including multiple Projects of the Year; the inaugural King Salman Charter for Architecture and Urbanism Award; numerous Interior Design Best of Year citations; Architect magazine awards; RADA awards; American Architecture peer-review accolades; a SEED Award; two Les Grube Memorial Awards; a SCUP Award; a handful of AZ Awards, a Landezine International Landscape Award; multiple PLAN IT and Architect’s Newspaper A/N awards. His work is widely published.
David is a GSA National Peer Reviewer and he was recently invited to join the US State Department OBO’s Industry Advisory Group (paused), both are honors bestowed on a limited number of respected professionals across the United States.
David has taught graduate level architecture studios at the Technical University in Dresden (DE), University of Kansas, Washington University in St. Louis, and Kansas State University where he founded the award-winning Design+Make Studio in 2011. The focus of the studio is to prepare students for a life of meaningful practice, through real world projects, often implemented, ranging in focus from affordable housing to mental health facilities, to elevating environmental awareness and conservation projects. Starting in Fall 2025 David will be Professor of Practice at Kansas State University.
Steve Wiesenthal, FAIA
Architect Steve Wiesenthal, FAIA, leads Studio Gang’s San Francisco office, where he guides teams in articulating and translating project visions into physical reality. His current and recent projects include a new home for the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability in Palo Alto, an expanded campus for the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and the renewal of Kresge College at the University of California Santa Cruz. Prior to joining Studio Gang, Steve worked for twenty-five years as a university architect, leading the development and operations of the built environment during periods of significant growth at the University of Chicago, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. At both UChicago and UCSF, Steve initiated their first campus-wide environmental sustainability programs. Early in his career, he worked for six years with influential designers Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.
THE PEOPLE | CONNECT WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS
The annual celebration marks a unique opportunity to come together as one design community and foster connections across borders and disciplines. Engage with distinguished architects, designers, and industry professionals shaping our region's future and beyond. Forge valuable connections and expand your professional network while mingling with like-minded individuals who share your passion for architecture and design.
THE PROJECTS | DISTINGUISHED WORK
The AIA San Diego Design Awards recognizes Design Excellence - Those exemplary projects that demonstrate design skill of formal, functional and technical requirements, including ecological and environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and a strong sense of place.
THE PROCESS | RIGOROUS, ANONYMOUS
Each year, we receive hundreds of submissions in multiple diverse categories.The selection process is rigorous and focused on both function and form, with an emphasis on sustainability. The recruitment of a non-local jury of highly distinguished architects means that the projects awarded embody design excellence to the highest extent.
Awards Archives
Project Information and credit to project partners is provided by the architectural firm or entrant of record in AIA San Diego's Design Awards Call for Entries. AIA San Diego, its Design Awards Committee/Representatives, and its Design Awards Jury (Juries) are not the authors of this content, nor are they responsible for verifying its accuracy. Companies/consultants/contractors should contact the firm of record to address discrepancies. To be eligible for consideration and receipt of award in AIA San Diego's Design Awards, entries must be made by AIA members in good standing who abide by the Ethical Standards of Attribution of Credit set forth by the American Institute of Architects.
