Last Saturday the Orchids and Onions architectural critique was published in The Union Tribune and Carrier Johnson + Culture won the Adaptive Reuse Orchid for our work on The Headquarters at Seaport Village. The site was originally San Diego’s Old Police Headquarters, a National Registered Historic Landmark comprised of former courtrooms, jail cells, administrative offices, and a maintenance garage all collected around a central courtyard. Working with Heritage Architecture & Planning, the project entailed taking the 100,000 square foot historical site and transforming it into a specialty retail and restaurant entertainment center for the client, Terramar Retail Centers. The shops and restaurants that moved into The Headquarters at Seaport Village include Dallman Fine Chocolates, Eddie V’s, Gelato Paradiso, Puesto, Seasons 52, Starbucks, The Cheesecake Factory, Venissimo Cheese, Aaron Chang Ocean Art Gallery, Geppetto’s Toys, Kitson, Life is Good, Lolo, Madison San Diego, preFAB, Seaside Paper, Simply Local, Sunglass Hut, Urban Beach House, and Verde. The results of the project are well articulated by the quote provided by The Union Tribune:
“A wonderful job in transforming an eyesore of a building to make it both useful and visually attractive.”
