Pioneer Information
Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Nakagawa was raised in Southern California. In 1942 his family was interned at the Manzanar Relocation Center and later Tule Lake Internment Camp. After World War II, the family returned to their home in west Los Angeles. Nakagawa enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1958, and remained in the reserves until 1965. Between 1958 and 1963 he attended a series of colleges before transferring to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1964. His brother-in-law, Ken Nakamaki, introduced him to the practice of landscape architecture, and Nakagawa completed his B.S.L.A. in 1967.
In 1966 Nakagawa joined the firm Courtland Paul/Arthur Beggs and Associates, based in Southern California, where he would remain for the next 27 years. By 1974 he was among a group of partners that formed the Peridian Group, Inc. Peridian was awarded the contract for several sports venues, including the entryway to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1984). In 1985 Nakagawa became President and CEO of Peridian International. He moved to Singapore to start Peridian Asia in 1993, where he served as executive director until 1995. During this time the firm provided master-planning services, such as the Kuching City Extension master plan (mid-1990s) in the Province of Sarawak, Malaysia. Nakagawa returned to the U.S. in 1998, and re-focused his practice on industrial and commercial building sites in and around Los Angeles.
Nakagawa received awards from the American Institute of Architects, the American Institute of Landscape Architects, and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.
