The San Diego Architectural Foundation bestowed its “Grand Orchid” on the San Diego State transit station and Aztec Green and reserved its worst criticism, the “Grand Onion,” for the Interstate 5 and 805 merge expansion at the annual Orchids & Onions awards program in the Birch North Park Theatre. Twenty-three projects were singled out for good and bad planning or design.

Qualcomm Stadium, owned by the city, was given the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s Humanitarian Award for housing evacuees during October’s wildfires.

Orchid winners and their categories: Francis Parker Middle School/architecture; Caltrans headquarters/landscape architecture/built environment; Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (Border Field State Park)/architecture/ecology; NTC Promenade/urban design/historic preservation; Paseo de Mission Hills/historic preservation; Anthology and The Guild/ interior design; Briercrest Park in La Mesa/landscape architecture/sustainable design; Sea Passage Fountain in Coronado/public art; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego LCD Sign/public art/signage; and Children’s Museum San Diego, Del Sur Ranch House and Hammond Lofts/sustainability.

Onion winners were: Thurgood Marshall Middle School/architecture; Pipitone Building/historic preservation; Campo Indian Casino expansion and Sunroad Centrum office building/planning policies; Magic Carpet Ride in Encinitas/public art; and Del Sur Housing Development/sustainability.