The 2012 Cleveland Arts Prize committee levied praise on Steven Kordalski, the 59-year-old Cleveland architect who received this year’s Mid Career Award for Design. The award, which was first given in 1960, is the oldest of its kind in the country. Kordalski is president of Kordalski Architects, a boutique architectural studio in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood that specializes in corporate interiors, commercial, and residential projects.

AIA Cleveland awarded Kordalski’s firm a Design Merit Award for their work on the offices of Amin Turocy & Calvin (pictured below). The law firm relocated to top floor of the César Pelli-designed Key Tower—Ohio’s tallest building—which Kordalski outfitted with full-height white laminated and clear glass, creating an open atmosphere in the office. Kordalski’s design maximized sightlines and outside views in the highest office space between New York and Chicago.

A young Kordalski watched a modern home go up down the street from his parents’ house and decided to be an architect, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Cleveland is a tough market,” he told the Plain Dealer. “You have to stay really focused at what you do and what you believe in. It’s important to take a client and educate them about why better design is important.”