Remember when architects actually built things? Oh yeah, that was last year. And to commemorate that fact in Northern California, the AIA San Francisco chapter just announced the winners of its 2009 Design Awards.

Many of our favorite projects of the year were included, like SOM’s beacon-like Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, Stanley Saitowitz’s funky U-shaped Congregation Beth Sholom, and Mark Cavagnero and Paulett Taggart’s cool and sophisticated Sava Pool near Golden Gate Park.

Speaking of Golden Gate Park, another big winner was Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences, with its rolling green roof, amazing aquarium, and various indoor biomes. Aidlin Darling’s 355 Eleventh Street, a very contemporary adaptive reuse of a turn-of-the-century industrial building in San Francisco’s SOMA district, won in both the Energy + Sustainability category and in the Excellence in Architecture category.

Maybe next year we’ll be giving awards to renderings? Or maybe just to the most likable architects? Keep your fingers crossed.