Many of Duvall Decker's clients are community organizations like public schools, libraries and museums, where the focus isn't turning a profit. But that doesn't mean the architecture firm neglects its clients' financial issues.
The holistic approach that Duvall Decker takes to the business of architecture is one reason the Jackson, Mississippi, company is receiving the 2026 American Institute of Architects' firm of the year award. At least that's what co-founders Anne Marie Duvall Decker and Roy Decker believe contributed to the selection of Duvall Decker for the prize.
For its part, the AIA issued a statement saying the work of the Deckers is "a testament to the idea that thoughtful design can be a catalyst for revitalization and empowerment in overlooked communities."
The AIA Architecture Firm Award is the "highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture practice," the Washington, D.C.-based trade association said in its statement. "The award recognizes a firm that has consistently produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years." Irvine, California-based LPA won the award last year.
The Deckers founded their namesake firm in 1998. Anne Marie and Roy are partners as well as co-founders of Duvall Decker. Anne Marie, a native of Humboldt, Tennessee, earned her architecture degree from Mississippi State University. Roy, a native of Branchville, New Jersey, taught at Mississippi State before moving over to private practice.
Early years
From the firm's early years, the Deckers knew they wouldn't limit themselves solely to designing buildings, the couple said in a joint interview on Monday.
"We actually go out and seek equity for our clients, like tax credits and development incentives," Roy told CoStar News. "We look for money for our clients to make their [financial projections] work."
Duvall Decker also offers its expertise to clients after a building is completed. The AIA cited the wide range of services the company provides in its selection as firm of the year.
"They fix leaky pipes, help secure historic tax credits and provide strategic planning," the AIA said.
Duvall Decker's 20-member staff includes employees who provide janitorial and maintenance services. During initial project conversations with clients, the firm offers its services as a consultant to building owners, advising on how to operate a property in the most efficient manner, including strategies for power usage and building repairs.
"Architects know a tremendous amount about caring for buildings," Roy said. "We've been trying to expand the idea of what an architect is in the community."
Duvall Decker sometimes partners with third parties to assist with finance, land-use and zoning, landscape architecture and other areas where they don't have full-time staff members, Roy said.
The firm's founders also engage clients in thinking about how their buildings not only fit into a community but how they can provide a wider benefit to the surrounding area.
"We are always asking and including our clients in a bigger conversation about what it means to build in their community and what is the greater public value," Anne Marie told CoStar News.
Upcoming projects
Two of Duvall Decker's projects in Greenville, Mississippi, encapsulate that idea. One is a new federal courthouse expected to open next year. Another is the conversion of 10 historic buildings on Washington Avenue in Greenville into housing and retail on behalf of the Greater Greenville Housing & Revitalization Association.
The new federal courthouse takes the traditional notion of a courthouse layout and turns it inside-out, Anne Marie said. Courtrooms are pulled from the center of the building to the edges with large windows that allow the public to view people walking in and out, she said. Eskew Dumez Ripple, out of New Orleans, assisted Duvall Decker on the design of the courthouse.
The General Services Administration selected a site in downtown Greenville for the courthouse, with the intention of helping spur economic development in the Mississippi Delta city. Plans for the 10-building project for the Greater Greenville Housing & Revitalization Association came about in part because of the courthouse stimulating economic development in the city's downtown core.
Construction on the housing and retail project is scheduled to start in the first quarter.
Duvall Decker's portfolio runs the gamut in both property type and the type of client. The firm has designed personal residences, offices, healthcare clinics, schools, churches, museums, military facilities and data centers.
Selected work includes the Cooperwood senior living complex in Flowood, Mississippi, that earned a profit for its private-sector development team sooner than expected, Roy said.
In higher education, Duvall Decker's work includes a civil rights research center at Tougaloo College in Jackson, the renovation of a library in a brutalist building on the campus of Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, and a campus master plan for Texas Southern University in Houston.
Other work includes multiple structures for the Mississippi Air National Guard in Jackson, interior design work for the Jackson offices of two large law firms, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and Burr & Forman, and the conversion of an abandoned 1950s department store in Shreveport, Louisiana, into a data center owned and operated by DartPoints.
Another project that's nearing completion is a new office for Duvall Decker. The firm is renovating a former dry cleaners at 2800 N. State St. to add about 12,000 square feet of street-level retail and 10,000 square feet of offices, including 6,000 square feet for the firm's office. It expects to vacate its current office at 2915 N. State St. next summer and move into the new digs at that time.
It's the latest project in a field of work that Anne Marie said she realized was her life's calling while in sixth grade.
"It turns out that what I love doing is what I do every day," she said.