The Gold Nugget celebration was emceed by Tim Sullivan of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors. The evening featured live music and a multi-media presentation that showcased the Western region's influence on American architecture and planning in residential and non-residential arenas.
The oldest and largest program of its kind in the United States, the Gold Nugget competition honors creative achievement in architectural design and land use. This year's Grand and Merit winners emerged from 651 entries, in 53 categories covering residential, commercial, specialty, land planning and rehabilitation projects.
California's geographic and market diversity was well reflected by its Grand Award listings, which included residential and non-residential design, site planning and special use categories; California won 41 Grand Awards and a Judges' Special Award of Excellence, as well as the Home of the Year designation.
Belcara at Pacific Ridge in Newport Coast, California, and Baywood Collection at Santaluz in San Diego shared top honors as Detached Residential Project of the Year. Oak Court Apartments in Palo Alto, Calif., was the Grand Award winner as Attached Residential Project of the Year and Arizona's Vistancia in Peoria won Master Planned Project of the Year. Plan One of Baywood Collection at Santaluz in San Diego earned the coveted Home of the Year designation, an award bestowed at the discretion of the judges.
Grand and Merit winners for 2005 came from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington, and from Pacific Rim entrants British Columbia, Hong Kong, Japan and the People's Republic of China. Arizona accounted for five Grand Awards; Colorado took four and Hong Kong, Oregon, Texas and Washington each took one Grand.
Brighton Place in Bakersfield was the first winner of the California Green Builder Award; representing one of several new categories that reflect emerging trends in homebuilding, this award is co-sponsored by the California Building Industry Association. San Francisco's Folsom/Dore Apartments was named Sustainable/Green Residential Project of the Year, and two projects took a Grand for Sustainable/Green non-Residential Project: Desert Broom Public Library in Phoenix and Woodland Police Station in Woodland, Calif. Sponsored by Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric, this category honors effective ways to design and build energy and resource-conserving structures.
Building Industry Community Spirit Awards acknowledged builders, developers, architects and non-profits partnering to improve conditions for the less fortunate. Six Spirit Awards went to shelter facilities in California and Washington and to two homes in Arizona and California created for the chosen families in ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" series.
In addition to Jeffrey DeMure and Jenny Sullivan, the 2005 judging panel included builder/developers Bob Clauser of Pardee Homes in Los Angeles; Tom Doucette of Doucette Communities in Tucson, Ariz., and Glen Zahorka of Malibu Homes of Colorado in Centennial, Colo; Architect/planner judges included Thom Cox of Thomas P. Cox: Architects Inc. in Irvine, Calif.; Jonathan Segal, FAIA of Jonathan Segal Architects in Carlsbad, California; Bob White of ForestStudio in Laguna Beach, Calif.; and Roger Wolf of Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh AIA in Santa Monica, Calif.
For a complete list of winners, see www.goldnuggetawards.com.
