Two Point Loma Structures Nominated for Onions

In a preview of the annual Orchids & Onions architectural contest for San Diego’s best and worst in recent urban design, Roger Showley, architecture critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune let it be known two local structures have been nominated for onions.

The newly-opened Point Loma Fire Station 22 on Catalina Boulevard was nominated for an Onion; jurors ridiculed the architecture and the bright red garage doors. “It’s a Target” one juror for the contest commented in a recent tour of Orchid nominated projects.

And the Waterpoint condos near Shelter Island Drive was nominated for an architectural Onion — jurors didn’t like the travertine panels on the exterior walls. A juror noted it looks like a “travertine fortress.”

This is part of the fun in the annual Orchids & Onions contest, sponsored by the San Diego Architectural Foundation. It’s a San Diego tradition that hearkens back to 1976 whose goals are to educate people on good design, while encouraging private developers to strive for better quality.

The jurors are architects, landscape architects, interior designers, a developer, an artist and a clean-tech executive, according to Showley. They meet soon to decide the winners and losers. And between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15, the public can vote online at orchidsandonions.org for the People’s Choice Orchid and Onion.

Everything will be unveiled on Oct. 4 gala at the U.S. Grant Hotel. There, says Showley, “Orchid winners will receive bouquets of orchids and thank their colleagues, funders and loved ones. Onion winners — if they show up — will receive bunches of onions and, if they get in the spirit of the evening, will crack a joke, blame city building inspectors and promise to do better.”