One Paseo was imagined as a new walkable mixed-use neighborhood in San Diego’s Carmel Valley. Tasked with developing the overall masterplan and designing the retail, our team aimed to achieve high levels of connectivity that extended to the office spaces designed by Gensler and the residential areas designed by TCA.
Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2026: Entries Open!
Take your work to the next level. Register Now…

Gold 🏆 Winner
Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2025
One Paseo
Mixed-Use Architecture (Built)
Firm
5+design
Architect/Designer
Michael Ellis
Design Team
Michael Ellis
Location
San Diego
Country
United States
Photographer/Copyright
©Brandon Shigeta





The concept centers around paseos, courtyards, and plazas, creating a network of pedestrian-friendly spaces throughout the site. A variety of building sizes combined with layered landscaping create unique outdoor rooms, each defined by its surroundings.
At the heart of the project is the civic plaza, a spacious informal area for seating, relaxation, and dining that is framed by retail buildings clustered around courtyards and paseos.
The site’s challenging topography, which drops 75 feet from north to south, was leveraged by positioning the two office buildings at the lowest point. This placement creates a subtle relationship between the offices, their parking, and the rest of the site. Angled to present a foreshortened view of the street and the rest of the development, the office buildings connect to the main civic plaza via a multi-purpose plaza with three pavilions.
Residential buildings are situated at the north end, adjacent to a steep landscaped berm that minimizes road noise, reduces apparent building height from the street, and opens views toward the civic plaza.
One Paseo is a retail village and mixed-use development located in the north of San Diego County, Carmel Valley. Originally master planned in the 1970s, the new design looked to fulfill Kilroy Realty’s wish to provide a center for the community that incorporates retail, office and residential buildings.
The project was imagined as a new, walkable mixed-use neighborhood that would maximize California’s year-round weather. The concept was centered around the use of paseos, courtyards and plazas that would create a series of connected pedestrian experiences meandering through the project. Variously sized buildings are combined with a layered use of landscape to create a varied character. Each space feeling like an outdoor room defined by the landscape and the adjacent buildings’ uses. The heart of the project is the civic plaza a generously sized informal space of seating, relaxation and dining that can be programmed for a variety of public activities from farmers’ markets to outdoor movies.