Don Hisaka, architect has designed buildings from Cleveland to Tokyo with a single focus: graceful and attractive no matter how commercial the setting or utilitarian the agenda. Beginning in 1960 when he opened his practice in Cleveland, he has designed buildings like Beachwood’s Signature Square office complex (1986-9), the glass atrium connecting Thwing and Hitchcock Halls at CASE Western Reserve University (1980) and University Center at Cleveland State University (1974) with characteristic attention paid to the surroundings and their relationship to the building. At Cleveland State, the visitor emerges from the fortress-like street approach into a giant atrium with “dramatic visual references to taller neighbors and busy plazas.” The home he designed for himself in Shaker Heights is carefully placed on a pie-shaped wedge of land that inspired a unique and simple design that combines successfully all the qualities of his buildings. In 1970, Hisaka was awarded the prestigious Cleveland Arts Prize in Architecture.
