Different from most architectural awards, the Charter Award looks at how plans and projects integrate with their surrounding environments, from blocks to neighborhoods to entire regions. Congress for the New Urbanism president John Norquist said the winners demonstrate the power of planning and design work that insists on excellence not only in architecture, but also in its relationship with surroundings.

With multiple housing types, retail, open space, adjacent to mass transit, and special concerns given to the community’s history, jurors chose Westgate Pasadena because it represents the highest level of “a pattern book and a form-based code that is shaping and encouraging infill development in a historic Southern California city.”

Jurors selected the winners from more than 135 submissions worldwide. They were awarded in three categories reflecting the three scales of the Charter of the New Urbanism. Winners will receive their awards at a lunchtime ceremony in Pasadena, CA, on Friday, June 10.

Westgate Pasadena will be developed on a 12-acre site in the historic commercial district of Old Pasadena. The transit-oriented urban village will include a residential and retail mix. Developer Sares-Regis Group purchased the property from The Worldwide Church of God, which used the property as the East Campus of its 48-acre Ambassador College. Two historic structures will be retained on site or relocated nearby.

"We are excited to develop the East Campus with a new urban community that meets and

Within Westgate Pasadena, a wide range of housing types, images, and sizes many with front doors connecting to the street encourage a diversity of residents to the neighborhood. Approximately 850 homes, both rental and for-sale, are designed in three, four and five stories to maximize diversity. An overall density of 70 DU/acre leaves over 40 percent of the site dedicated to open space. A wide variety of open space emphasizes pedestrian use and connections to the neighborhood and downtown.

Westgate is also located close to mass transit, including bus lines and the Gold Line light rail station, make public transpiration easily accessible. The light rail public transit system now provides a vital link for residents to many cities throughout the Greater Los Angeles area thanks to recent expansions the system just underwent.

In accordance with Pasadena's housing requirements, a portion of the Westgate Pasadena homes will be designated as affordable housing.

“The CNU awards are one of the nation’s most distinguished in the architecture and planning professional,” said Thomas P. Cox AIA, founder and CEO/Managing Partner with TCA. “I’m elated that our work

The project’s design and development team met with city officials as well as numerous neighborhood groups in an effort to craft a development plan that fulfills the housing needs and desires of the community. “We embraced a high level of civic and community input. Working with these groups as a team allowed the project to obtain more comprehensive goals for the entire community,” said Associate Architect, Eric Olsen, AIA.

CNU is the United States leading organization promoting sound urban design and walkable, mixed-use cities and towns as alternatives to sprawl. The juried Charter Awards program is CNU’s main vehicle for recognizing work that best embodies and advances the principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism, which assembles the essential tenants of urban design and the qualities of coherent places from the scale of the region to the block and building.

TCA’s design team on Westgate Pasadena is Eric Olsen, AIA, Christiane Ganss-Johnson, David Smith, AIA, Simon Ha and Shienny Sutanto. The landscape architect on Westgate Pasadena is Melendrez Design Partners