When Anne Marie Duvall Decker and Roy Decker founded their Jackson-based architecture firm in 1998, they didn't just build a business—they built a legacy of service. That commitment just earned them one of architecture's most prestigious honors: the 2026 AIA Architecture Firm Award, recognizing firms that demonstrate exceptional design excellence and transformative community impact.

This isn't just another architecture award. The American Institute of Architects gives the Architecture Firm Award to only one firm each year nationwide, celebrating practices that use design as a catalyst for positive change. For a Mississippi firm to receive this rare national recognition speaks volumes about the profound impact of purpose-driven architecture rooted in community advocacy.

Transforming Jackson Through the Midtown Master Plan

Duvall Decker's fingerprints are all over Jackson's evolving landscape, each project demonstrating their philosophy that architecture is an act of service. Their Midtown Master Plan stands as perhaps their most ambitious Jackson undertaking—a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy born from a year of listening to residents, business owners, and community partners. Since the plan's adoption in 2010, it has catalyzed remarkable change: over 60 new affordable homes, new businesses, a charter school, and residents securing mortgages to invest in their neighborhood's future.

The firm didn't stop with planning—they built the housing themselves. The Midtown Housing project created energy-efficient duplexes and innovative courtyard designs where neighbors watch out for each other. They even transformed a run-down liquor store into a thriving community meeting space, health clinic, and neighborhood barber shop.

Elevating Jackson Public Schools and Youth Programs

Their work with Jackson Public Schools since 2018 has strategically renovated facilities across the district, improving safety, health, and learning environments for students and teachers. JPS Superintendent Errick L. Greene calls their work "both rare and invaluable." They've also designed spaces for the Jackson Free Clinic, providing dignified healthcare facilities for the city's most underserved citizens, and renovated Operation Shoestring's Ellen Harris Center into an inspiring education center where explorative forms and textures invite children's imagination.

At Tougaloo College, their Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center provides vital academic spaces while housing the college's art collection and serving as a hub for civil rights research—architecture that honors history while building the future.

Architecture as Service to Jackson's Community

What sets Duvall Decker apart from conventional architecture firms is their refusal to hand over keys and walk away. They provide building maintenance, help secure historic tax credits, fix leaky pipes, and offer strategic planning to ensure projects remain sustainable and functional long after construction ends. This comprehensive, hands-on approach ensures their work continues serving communities for generations.

Their portfolio spans from the Mississippi Center for Justice—transformed into a beacon of social equity—to innovative housing solutions and public education infrastructure. Each project embodies their founding belief that thoughtful design can foster dignity, equity, and public good in overlooked communities.

In choosing purpose over profit, Duvall Decker proves that Mississippi's most profound contributions often come from those who serve rather than those who merely build. This prestigious national recognition celebrates not just beautiful buildings, but a transformative approach to architecture that makes Jackson—and communities beyond—stronger, more equitable, and more hopeful.