Seven projects on city property were in focus last night at the Art Commission’s annual Awards for Excellence in Design. Mayor Bloomberg presided over the ceremony, using the occasion to laud New York City’s respect for design.

“I was always annoyed that Hong Kong tried to have great architecture in every building, and that wasn’t the case in New York,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “Now we’ve really come around. We all want better for our city.”

The projects honored reflect the range of work the Art Commission reviews each year, from heavily trafficked parks and museums to buildings the public rarely sees.

The projects recognized included a steelframe garage for sanitation trucks in Queens, built by the Sanitation Department, and a shaft built atop a water tunnel in Lower Manhat tan by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Also recognized were newly landscaped gardens in the Battery and Chinatown, the plans to redesign the entrances of the Skyscraper Museum and El Museo del Barrio, and the south facade of the West 8th Street subway station in Coney Island.

The president of the Art Commission, Joyce Frank Menschel, joined Mr. Bloomberg during the awards ceremony at the Brooklyn Museum, which received special recognition for its new front entrance and plaza.

The commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Kate Levin, took the stage twice for her integral role in shepherding the El Museo del Barrio and Brooklyn Museum projects.

Others accepting awards included the chairman of the Battery Conservancy, William Rudin; the chairman of El Museo del Barrio, Tony Bechara; garden designer Piet Oudolf; Robert Cuevas of the Department of Environmental Protection; Peter Dorsey of Acconi Studio, and architects James McConnell and Roger Duffy.