San Dieguito River Park Wins Two Orchids at 2011 Orchids & Onions Event

Below is what the Jurors had to say:

San Dieguito River Park Headquarters (click here for nomination and photos)

18372 Sycamore Creek Road, Escondido

Owner: San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority

Designers: Rinehart/Herbst

"San Dieguito River Park Headquarters is a remarkable response to a tragedy of nature. A simple budget, with simple architectural solutions, results in complex relationships between the built environments and natural surroundings. This architecture is filled with purposeful incongruities, yet it somehow reaches seamless architectural togetherness. It is nicely restrained and elegant, but also striking with an occasional flourish. There are simple little details such as the setting of the storefront, the ways in which the walls meet the roof and the use of the old foundation as a courtyard that belie the limited budget and results in an architecture that is both proud of itself and comfortable for its users.

San Dieguito Park should be proud to have this faceted, white gem as their new headquarters. When added to the landscape restoration, trials and the new pedestrian bridge this entire project serves as a shining and lasting example of how to execute publicly financed infrastructure."

David Kreitzer Lake Hodges Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge (click here for nomination and photos)

West Bernardo Drive, west of Interstate 15 at Lake Hodges, Rancho Bernardo, San Diego

Owner: San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority

Designer: Safdie / Rabines (Bridge Engineer T.Y. Lin International)

"This project breaks the boundaries of a defined landscape architecture. While it is easy to appreciate the Lake Hodges pedestrian bridge from the highway as you drive 60mph past it, its true wonder lies in the experience of crossing it by foot. Upon approach, you are greeted with a vista of pedestrians and cyclists, however as you move across the bridge, subsequently dipping and rising along the way, you lose sight of others and at moments feel a sense of complete privacy with the bridge, and connection with the landscape surrounds.

This gentle dipping and rising creates a "symbiotic relationship" between its sweeping design and the plains surrounding it. The jury found the bridge "graceful and sensitive," and was thoroughly impressed that a regional park system can take on something like this and make it so beautiful. One juror observed that this project seamlessly blurs the lines between architecture, engineering, landscape architecture and art."

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