6/28/17 - Daily Transcript Staff Report - The Urban Discovery Academy earned AVRP Skyport Studios one of two 2017 Gold Nugget Awards of Merit for projects.
AVRP Skyport Studios earned two 2017 Gold Nugget Awards of Merit for projects in downtown San Diego.
Seaport San Diego, developed by Protea Waterfront Development and designed by AVRP Skyport in collaboration with Gafcon, AECOM and BIG, was honored as a Best On-the-Boards Mixed-Use Project.

The architectural firm also won a Gold Nugget Award for the Urban Discovery Academy, a downtown school recognized in the Best Educational Project category.

The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday at the San Diego Convention Center as part of the annual Pacific Coast Builders Conference. The Gold Nugget Awards recognize outstanding planning and design in 49 categories including residential, commercial, retail, and mixed-use. Winners this year were chosen from over 600 worldwide entries. The Gold Nugget Grand Award winners will be announced at the ceremony and will emerge from the Merit Awards in each category.

"We are so pleased that the PCBC judges chose to recognize these projects, especially Seaport San Diego," Doug Austin, AVRP Skyport chairman, founder and CEO of Studios, said in a statement.

"I believe Seaport San Diego will be significant and transformative for our city," adds Yehudi "Gaf" Gaffen, CEO of Protea Waterfront Development, LLC. "This project is about the whole San Diego community-from the fishermen to the Seaport Village tenants to the Downtown hotel owners and retailers-really, anyone who calls San Diego home. We addressed their needs in this project."

AVRP is headed by Austin, Christopher T. Veum, Randy Robbins, and Frank Wolden. Together the principals of the 40-year-old design firm and its have garnered nearly 150 design awards overall.