The Botanical Building was built in 1915 for the Panama California Exposition. It is one of the four permanent buildings constructed for the exposition. There was another exposition in 1935 after the depression to promote more business in San Diego. In 1957, City remodeled the building to the current condition by removing many of the arched windows and added the bottom portion of the lath. 

The project is to provide architectural design services to preserve, restore and renovate the 11,200 SF Botanical Building and surrounding grounds, including the addition of a previously removed historic pergola, accessible walks, benches and landscaping.  To address visitor experience planning needs, We conducted extensive surveys of guests.  We also investigated:  the significance of the building’s history and design intent, the park garden district, the horticultural inventory, the Balboa Park setting adjacent to surrounding buildings/open spaces and sustainable building measures to assist in providing overall project input before embarking on the final design with park stakeholders.  A significant portion of the initial project analysis also includes review of historical drawings, photos, and documents from the 1915 Panama California Exposition and a grounds crew needs analysis.  The design team will also develop site, building & donor recognition signage and an interpretive plan.  The primary goal of the first phase is to generate graphics and conceptual cost estimates for fundraising purposes prior to commencing the construction documents phase.

This new DMV office was designed to provide new image of future of DMV improving its design and visitor experience.  The building presents a new, healthier and environmentally friendly experience for both employees and customers.  The building contains a displacement ventilation system for 100% air exchange, as well as outdoor customer waiting area, complete with a television monitor and speakers.  This single-story building provides approximately 14,600 SF of interior space, and indoor and outdoor spaces for employees and customers.  The facility is located on a 3.26 acre site and is constructed of concrete masonry, steel framing and exterior stucco finish.  Roofing is a ‘cool’ metal standing seam and built-up roofing.  Building structural frame is steel.  This project is the third LEED Gold Certified in San Diego County.

The original 1915 Japanese Tea Pavilion built for the Panama California Exposition was dismantled in 1955. The new Japanese Friendship Garden was dedicated to promote the cultural understanding between the two countries and provide spiritual oasis for the citizens of San Diego. 

Making a 14th century Sukiya style building in Sounthern California climate with compliance with modern building and fire codes was challenging. The sense of authenticity does not come from its style and materials alone. Overhangs were designed to cut out the brightness of the California blue sky, the modern structural connections were designed to be exposed and appreciated as true, and fire sprinkler pipes were exposed to not viewed as a part of the authentic 14th century character. 

A 25-year accomplishment that started in 1996 with a master plan (completed by us), this historic facility's recreation was made possible through collaborative fundraising efforts championed by patrons, members and the design team.  This LEED Certified design project was completed in conjunction with late landscape architect Dr. Takeo Uesugi. 

The project is to provide architectural design services for the 300-guest pavilion and other buildings at the non-profit Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego.  Located in Balboa Park, the Inamori Pavilion is a versatile multipurpose space for community use and is also available for rental as an event venue space. The Pavilion features two activity spaces, an office, a kitchen, restrooms and a garden viewing deck which overlooks a Koi Pond.  The master plan was funded by a Community Block Grant through the City of San Diego. 

Kotaro Nakamura is leading a three-phased $35.8 mil. design effort to modernize the existing Gompers Preparatory Academy, which adds classrooms and athletic facilities to the campus. Phase 1:  Addition of air conditioning and improvements to the auditorium, the path of travel, restrooms, electrical systems, structural system and finishes. The modernization should start at the end of 2016 and be completed in 14 months.  Phase 2: New athletic facilities totaling 29,000 SF, including a gymnasium, locker rooms, weight room, dance room, tennis courts and a practice running track along with a new lunch shelter are planned for construction in 2017.  Phase 3: To replace several aging relocatable buildings, a classroom addition project will include two new academic buildings and a lecture hall totaling 33,300 SF, along with site improvements to complete a new academic quad with the new athletic facilities and connect the new facility to the rest of campus.  The core philosophy of the project is to create spaces that are conducive to develop cohesive community. It is based on the principal's pedagogical philosophy. Therefore, music and movement, varied scale gathering functions become vital to this project. Construction is planned for 2018.

In October 2007 the Witch Creek Fire swept through the canyons of San Diego County east destroying many buildings on it way west.  The transitional housing surrounding the San Pasqual Academy, a housing and educational campus for foster children operated by the San Diego County of Education did not have a chance facing the dry shrubs adjacent to the buildings.

The reconstruction meant more than just a place to live for the transitioning young adults who are out of the system at age 18. Building a sense of community became an important objective for this project inhabited by youths without family support. 

Exposed natural materials providing comfort. Heavy timber construction for the strength. Simplicity of the layout to reduce stress. Touch of color to develop cheerful environment. And surrounding courtyard for the sense of neighborhood. 

Kotaro served as the principal architect for the Design-Build project of a new administration building and 30 new residential units at the San Pasqual Academy.  Located in a rural area of North San Diego County, the project consists of 17 new housing structures that replace buildings lost in the Witch Creek Fire in 2007.  As part of this re-build project, a new 7,000 SF Administration Center is provided to replace the one lost in the fire.  Due to the remote location design considerations included drought-tolerant landscaping, brush management zones, enhanced flood control measures and improved access for fire equipment. The project provides new housing for the school staff, alumnus and foster care families and includes outdoor community gathering spaces, shade structures, infrastructure improvements, landscaping and new view overlooks.

The 30 housing units are LEED Platinum Certified, and the Academy is one of only five LEED for Homes Platinum certification projects in the County of San Diego.

The Administration Center is designed for LEED Silver Certification.

Kotaro Nakamura was selected by the County of San Diego to provide a Facilities Strategic Master Plan for the Kearny Mesa Region for the year 2020.  Facilities include 41 buildings, 20 departments and 1.4 million square feet of owned and leased space.  RNT provided interviews, workshops and questionnaires to determine future needs and programming requirements, including the following elements:
•    Vehicle Maintenance facility
•    Truck and forklift access and logistics
•    Shops
•    Storage facilities
•    County-owned vehicles/parking considerations

RNT worked with Keyser Marston Associates to develop financing options and development alternatives including design-build developer turn-key options.  

Mission Valley was developed after the WWII with the construction of Interstate 8 and large scale shipping centers and business parks became predominantly vehicle oriented environment. San Diego River was saved by the heroic efforts of a group of environmentalists preventing it from becoming concrete aligned waterway like the L.A. River. This project is an urban renewal project to reintroduce and discover the nature once predominant at Mission Valley before the development. 

Kotaro Nakamura is the principal architect for the design of the San Diego River Discovery Center at Grant Park which is a new educational, meeting and community development project designed to support the San Diego River Park Master Plan.  The project serves as a model development project for properties that are adjacent to and/or could impact the San Diego River.  The Discovery Center includes a new 9,000 SF educational, meeting and community facility, a new outdoor classroom space, outdoor volunteer staging areas, an outdoor interpretive water feature, native landscape restoration landscaping, site improvements, the extension of the San Diego River Trail and a San Diego River observation pier.  The center is a public/private facility designed for the local community and visitors.  Within the center there will be literature, videos, lecture rooms and a museum to showcase the river’s history (via brochures and walking tours).  The project’s footprint minimizes the development of the 17.5 acre site which will contribute to the river channel in meandering as desired in the master plan. Currently in the site development permitting phase, the project's sustainability goal is a LEED Platinum net-zero energy-use facility.  

Kotaro Nakamura is the principal architect for the predesign/programming study for the expansion/replacement project of the Joshua Tree National Park Oasis of Mara Visitors Center.  The new visitors center will be a joint-use facility shared between the Park and the City of Twentynine Palms, California.  RNT worked with the National Parks and multiple stakeholder groups in a multiday design workshop to develop the project’s program and design requirements.  The result was the Schematic Design of a new 8,900 SF joint-use community and visitors center facility that is targeted to be a showcase project for desert sustainability.  The project is being planned as a Net-Zero and LEED Platinum building.

This house was designed for a couple whose home was destroyed by a California canyon fire in 1983.  They went out for a walk that hot and windy day to find their house burned down to the ground as they came back. The house was designed to symbolize rebirth and reconstruction of their life raising out of the ashes of the old house. The second floor hovers above the first floor detached from it. The curvature of the CMU wall symbolizing nature that is life generating and distructive as wildfire.  

The program included: design a gallery to display design artifacts and art; a minimal eating area and kitchen; two independent studies and offices with separate accesses and places to sleep.  The rectangular plan of the house is interrupted by a curved concrete block wall reflecting the topography of the site which is the canyon’s edge.  The building materials stucco, concrete block, stainless steel, glass and hardwood floors are minimalist, or in their natural state.   

The project was awarded AIA Honor Award for Design.

This Street Enhancement Plan is an art project that is designed to unite the communities of Golden Hill, Burlingame and North Park by encouraging pedestrian passage, facilitating slower car traffic and providing a sense of open space.  

The project was designed by the team Philip Matzigkeit, Mario Lara, and Kotaro Nakamura.

The Enhancement Plan’s pedestrian pathway structure and median landscaping are designed to acknowledge the original bridge structure that once spanned Switzer Canyon.  Destroyed by storms in 1956, the wood and steel bridge was replaced by an earthen in-fill structure in that same year to continue street traffic.  The landscape plan, along the edges and median strip, strives to restore the canyons sense of flow blocked by the earthen in-fill and slow down traffic.  The goal of the new pedestrian structure is to circulate people away from street’s traffic and noise, fostering a greater experience of the Canyon’s beauty.

East West Building is a four-story building located in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp District.  Making a new building in a historic district became the main issue for this project. The project avoided becoming a "new old building" that disturbs the true historical environment of the neighborhood. Instead, this project employs some of the patterns and materials that were dominant in the area such as warehouse windows and brick. Where thin brick veneer was used, the edge of the wall was designed to expose the true thickness of the material.

The program was for mixed use, with office space on the upper floors and retail or office space on the street level.  The plan organizes itself around an internal courtyard that brings natural light to all the levels and spaces.  A vertical proportioning of light-diffusing, timber bamboo articulates the courtyard.  This courtyard also defines the separation between the street-level retail spaces and the offices above.  A small garden at the rear of the property celebrates the gentle sunlight and plant materials imported from Japan.  The project won an AIA Citation Award in 1991.

Kotaro Nakamura was one of seven winners of an international design competition for office furniture sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture.  The competition was designed to promote the new ideas about contemporary office environment. Kotaro used the idea of Office-Scape that users can arrange the furniture high and low, small and large to create office landscape that is more natural instead of becoming standardized dimension  office system cubicles that do not allow flexibility.

This winning design proposed a system that would make private workspaces, small conference areas, large conference areas and storage areas, all constituted on very simple box elements.  The box module is the basis of the organizational system and dimension. It provides a variety of storage scenarios.  Stacked storage units behave as spatial dividers. There is a series of planes that also work as dividers or work surfaces.  Networking and information technologies fit within the furniture system.  The system was manufactured in France and was utilized in French Government Offices.