The Irish, the San Diegans and the Scots have something in common.

We are all are able to register our approval of excellent new architecture.

Architecture Scotland are on a quest to find the best buildings in Scotland, as voted for by viewers of their website. Check it out here.

The results of the poll will be announced in October and will be included in the published annual Architecture Scotland 2008.

How do the nominated Scottish buildings compare with the San Diego nominations on our website?

San Diegans are not the only ones able to express their approval of excellent new architecture.

For the first time, the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) included a Public Choice category in their annual architectural awards. Almost 5,500 people voted in the online public choice. The contenders can still be viewed on the voting website, although voting is obviously closed.

A private house overlooking Lough Swilly in Co Donegal is the first winner. The house is rooted in the landscape, with its zig-zag roof angled to catch both the rising and the setting sun. From the sea, it is virtually invisible. See more images of the house here.

Architect Tarla MacGabhann, who designed the house with his brother Antoin, said the public award was “profoundly more important” to them than awards they have won from their peers. “What we do as architects must be experienced and encountered by the public on a daily basis. That’s what really matters. This is a public endorsement,” he said.

See television coverage of the 2008 RIAI awards here.

At last night’s AIA San Diego Design Awards, I had the pleasure of handing over a number of award certificates to local architects and firms. The annual celebration, as noted by our jury of out-of-towners showcased a collection of designs and designers that further ratcheted-up the caliber of work going on in our county.

The SDG&E Energy Efficiency Integration Award went to the California Department of Motor Vehicles field office in San Ysidro, designed by Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects. Speaking of energy efficiency, AIA San Diego’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) awarded Kevin deFreitas for his own energy-conserving “Casa Familia” home in Point Loma; Francis Parker School’s middle- and upper-school campus expansion in Linda Vista, designed by Lake/Flato Architects; and the New Children’s Museum designed by Rob Wellington Quigley.

Matthew S. Ellis Blue Motif Ltd., was named young architect of the year (the YAYA award) for 2008. Lloyd Russell won last year’s award, and juror Soren Simonsen won the national version of this award previously.

Honor Awards went to the Kevin deFreitas’ “Casa Familia” (on tour recently as “Casa Futura”, an SDAF fundraiser); the James and Rosemary Nix Nature Center at the Laguna Canyon Neighborhood Park in Laguna Hills by Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects; a laboratory for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designed by Architects Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker; and Jonathan Segal’s Q, an unbuilt residence and office building going up in Little Italy.

Merit awards went to West Laurel Studios by Brett Farrow Architect Inc.; and an unbuilt St. Vincent de Paul Center transitional housing project for the homeless in East Village by Austin Veum Robbins Partners.

Citation awards were given to Neptune, a home in Encinitas by Steve Lombardi; the “Treehouse,” by Public Architecture + Planning, which also won a citation for the Lofts at 555 Sixth Avenue; and the adaptive re-use of the Candy Factory and Schiefer & Sons warehouse by Studio E Architects with consultation by Heritage Architecture.

One “Divine Detail” award went to “The Bench,” an acrylic and LED-lit art object and seat by M.W. Steele Group and Basile Studio in the Potiker Theater at the La Jolla Playhouse complex at UCSD.

Congratulations to all the winners, and to the attendees and sponsors for making the event truly a celebration of San Diego’s finest.

For more photos, read Roger Showley’s article HERE.