Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

WE’RE BACK, FOLKS! Join our studio once again on April 14th at 7pm for a night of rapid-fire art talks from local creators complete with drinks and some delicious made-to-order pizza from Poppy Pies. We at Duvall Decker seek to foster a space for the community to share ideas, stories, and experiences. Concrete Studio is a space where we gather twice a year to celebrate people, art, and our thriving community. In short, we want to highlight cool people who do cool things! Concrete Studio’s storytelling platform explores inspiration, from people to places, to culture and movements, all right in… Read more »

Shannon Gathings, AIA, an associate at Duvall Decker, was recently awarded the 2023 AIA Young Architects Award! Shannon is a leader in and out of the studio. She is a skilled project manager and designer and has an unwavering passion for architecture’s role in making communities healthier. Click here to see Shannon’s portfolio of accomplishments: Shannon Gathings Portfolio     She has led some of the firm’s most important community reinvestment work in Mississippi including 47 affordable housing units for an at-risk neighborhood in Jackson; a 42-unit affordable housing project scaled for non-traditional families in Greenville known as the Reserves… Read more »

Duvall Decker was asked to represent the architecture field at the Pathways 2 Possibilities career expo in Jackson, Mississippi. Our architects had the opportunity to engage with 8th-grade students from public and private schools through hands-on, interactive activities showcasing the architecture industry. Impactful discussions on job responsibilities, education, training, passion, and life were held with 6,600 students from 46 schools. An important message from the P2P team: “We recognize that every student learns differently and that they possess different abilities and skills. It is our goal to introduce them to careers earlier so that they may plan for the future,… Read more »

We are pleased to announce that our projects The Reserves at Gray Park, The Baddour Center Transitional Housing, and The Selah House have all won awards in the areas of Merit, Honor, and Honor Citation, respectively, in this year’s AIA Mississippi Design Excellence Awards. Congratulations to our incredible team, our amazing client, and our photographer friends Andrew Welch and Jim Greipp! Jury comments: 2022 AIA Mississippi Merit Award – The Reserves at Gray Park | Greenville, MS “The design team used familiar elements such as courtyards and front porches to create a sense of community. The results provide a vibrance… Read more »

Duvall Decker’s project, the Mississippi Library Commission, was published in an online feature on Only In Your State. It states, “It’s not just literary fans who love the Mississippi Library Commission, though. Architectural enthusiasts are also quite fond of the facility – and that’s because it’s a true masterpiece! …  And it looks like the firms’ hard work paid off. Today, the Mississippi Library Commission is revered as one of the “50 most beautiful libraries in the country.”” To read the full article, follow the link below: The Beautiful Mississippi Library That Looks Like Something From A Book Lover’s Dream

The Baddour Center Transitional Housing has received the 2022 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies! Now celebrating its 28th year, The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, together with The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, has organized The American Architecture Awards as a way to honor the best, new significant buildings and landscape and planning projects designed and/or built in the United States and abroad by the most important American architects and planners practicing nationally and internationally. We’d like to give… Read more »

Roy Decker was asked by Architect’s Newspaper to write an Op-ed on Jackson, Mississippi’s water crisis. In the piece, Roy tries to see the light beyond the water system failure. Roy states: Architecture is public work. The practice of architecture is more than service. Architects are trained servant leaders, which for us has come to mean, teachers. A teacher reveals the public good when others cannot see it. A teacher explains the value of durability when the prevailing interest is in superficiality. Architecture projects are local, have a site, and are in a specific place and community. As architects we… Read more »

Concrete Studio was a great success! A huge thank you to all our presenters, supporters, and to Green Ghost Tacos for serving up their best! Duvall Decker seeks to foster a space for the community to share ideas, stories, and experiences. Concrete Studio is a space where we can gather to celebrate people, art, and our thriving community. In short, we want to highlight cool people who do cool things! Concrete Studio’s storytelling platform explores inspiration, from people to places, to culture and movements, all right in our own backyard. Watch for the next Concrete Studio coming soon!    … Read more »

Duvall Decker’s project, The Reserves at Gray Park, has been published in an online feature on Architizer. Architect and Project Manager, Shannon Gathings, AIA lead an interview discussing the inspirations, challenges, and insights in the project. Architizer writes, “In Greenville, like many towns in Mississippi, years of white flight increased the city footprint and lowered density. The Reserves at Gray Park was an opportunity to provide right-sized infill housing for Greenville’s missing middle, a shift from single-family housing to support non-traditional families, individuals living alone, and extended nuclear families. Duvall Decker’s challenge for the project was to repurpose an abandoned… Read more »

The Duvall Decker team spent last Friday celebrating at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the New US Courthouse set to start construction in Greenville, MS. It was so great to share this day with elected officials, GSA, the U.S. Courts, and the community of Greenville. We are thrilled to work with partners, Steve Dumez, FAIA, at Eskew Dumez, Michael LeBoeuf, FAIA, Engineering Resource Group, Inc., Walter P. Moore, Newcomb & Boyd, W.L. Burle Engineers, Andropogon, M.A.+ Associates, and the late Michael Fazio Ph.D. The design of the US Courthouse in Greenville, Mississippi is a search for meaning and public good. Building… Read more »

This fall, we are kicking off our first ever Concrete Studio night with our favorite Jackson creatives telling their story through pecha kucha. 20 slides, 20 seconds, one perspective. Please join us for a drink in celebrating people, art, and creative thought right outside our studio on October 21, 2022 from 6-10 PM. And stay tuned for a complete lineup coming soon!

Duvall Decker and our project, The Reserves at Gray Park, were recently announced as winners at the 2022 Architizer International A+Awards in the categories of Best Affordable Housing and Best Medium Size Firm. We’re proud to be recognized for design excellence by our peers! Congratulations to all of the winning teams and a special thank you to our wonderful client, the Greater Greenville Housing & Revitalization Association.

Congratulations to our Associate Shannon F. Gathings, AIA, NOMA for recently becoming a registered architect in the State of Mississippi! Licensure is a major personal and professional milestone for her as one of few licensed black female architects in the state and nation.  Black women currently represent only 0.4 percent of the total population of approximately 91,000 licensed architects.  Shannon has dedicated much of her time in AIA national leadership advocating for a shift in this reality and helping to build a more diverse profession.  Shannon has always had an unwavering passion for architecture and its potential to make communities… Read more »

Duvall Decker is pleased to announce that the U.S. General Services Administration has awarded the construction contract for the new U.S. Courthouse in Greenville, Mississippi to Robins & Morton. The project has been an ongoing partnership between GSA, the U.S. Courts, elected officials, and the community of Greenville, and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024. The project, part of the GSA Design Excellence Program, is led by Jackson, Mississippi- based architectural firm Duvall Decker Architects. The co-lead designers are Roy T. Decker, FAIA of Duvall Decker, and Steve Dumez, FAIA of Eskew Dumez Ripple. The design… Read more »

Anne Marie Duvall Decker, FAIA is excited and honored to be a featured speaker at the Sarasota Design Conference 2022. She will present “Connection to a Need” with Kameron Hodgens on Friday, April 8 which speaks on the idea of addressing the public good beyond the lot lines. She will then join the other speakers on Saturday, April 9 for a panel discussion regarding the Sarasota School of Architecture. For over three decades, AIA Florida Gulf Coast Chapter has hosted the Sarasota Design Conference, a unique event in a unique city. The Conference aims to be motivational for both attendees… Read more »

Congratulations to our team member Zachary R. Henry, AIA, NOMA, NCARB for becoming a registered architect in the State of Mississippi and being elevated to a Project Architect in the firm! Zachary joined us in 2018 after graduating from Mississippi State University with distinguished honors. Since joining the firm he has been a part of some of the firm’s most successful projects that continue to search for the public good. We cannot wait to see where this grand achievement takes him in the following years! Once again – CONGRATULATIONS!

Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA has been granted the honor of receiving the Richard Upjohn Fellowship by the American Institute of Architects. The honor is awarded to individuals who contribute to the profession of architecture through service on the AIA National Board of Directors. Shannon received this fellowship for her service as the 2021 AIA National Associate Director. She is also a 2020 recipient of the Bethune Fellowship for her service on the AIA Strategic Council.

Duvall Decker Architects is proud to announce it is expanding its leadership team naming Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA & Matthew Persinger, AIA, LEED AP BD+C as Associates in its Jackson firm. With eleven years of experience at Duvall Decker, Shannon is a leader in and out of the studio.  She is a skilled project manager and designer and has led some of the firm’s most successful projects, including the recently completed Selah House in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and the Reserves at Gray Park, an affordable housing development helping to revive an inner-city neighborhood in Greenville, Mississippi. She received her Bachelor of… Read more »

By George Dodds Common Edge Nov. 22, 2021 This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Bennie G. Thompson Academic & Civil Rights Research Center at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, designed by Duvall Decker Architects. Congressman Thompson, an alumnus of Tougaloo, has represented Mississippi’s Second District for 28 years; he is currently chairing the House January 6th Committee investigating the insurrection and attack on the U.S. Capitol. Events such as January 6, 2021, remind us of the power of political rhetoric. Four days before his assassination at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. politicized rhetoric of a different sort. In his… Read more »

We are excited to announce that Zachary R. Henry, Assoc. AIA was recently selected to serve on the National Associates Committee as an At-Large Director. This position has a two-year term, where he will lead workgroups that address various initiatives such as communications, advocacy, knowledge, et cetera. We cannot wait to see the work and change Zachary will make during his term as an At-Large Director for the National Associates Committee.

Alexandra Kennon Country Roads Magazine Deep South Design Issue “In the South, I think we understand that culture, art, architecture, and ideas spring from local insight––from small conversations and agreements. Culture is always local first.” – Roy Decker Country Roads 2021 Deep South Design Issue looks into design in the southern United States. This issue has a featured article on the South Forty, an exhibition presented in conjunction with the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy. You can read the full article here.

Duvall Decker is excited and honored to be one of the forty firms exhibited in “A SOUTH FORTY: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South” at the Palazzo Mora of the European Cultural Center. The exhibition curated and organized by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and Modus Studio is devoted to the vibrant, distinctive contemporary architecture and design practices of the American South. The exhibition is installed to coincide with the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. It will be on display through November 21, 2021, in a collateral venue, the Palazzo Mora of the European Cultural Center… Read more »

Peter MacKeith, Dean and Professor of Architecture Oxford American  Summer 2020 Place Issue “We’ve adopted the idea of “A South Forty” as an armature for structuring the conceptual and geographical expanse of the proposition, invoking the agricultural term measuring and locating acreage on a farmstead or homestead, then employing the infrastructural organizer of Interstate 40, which begins in Wilmington, North Carolina and runs west through the American Southeast, intersecting the major north-south interstates of I-95, I-55, I-49 and I-30 along its path, until reaching a delimiting inflection point in Oklahoma City, and ultimately simply as a preliminary limiting number of… Read more »

Shannon F. Gathings will be a panel member on “Growing & Promoting Diversity in Practice” at this year’s AIA Louisiana Conference on Architecture. She will join two other regional leaders to discuss and explore specific strategies professionals can implement to elevate these conversations within a firm. Read more here.

Anne Marie Duvall Decker, FAIA, is honored to serve as one of the featured speakers at AIA  Arkansas’s 2021 State Convention. The lecture is now published on YouTube! Click on the link below to watch her lecture titled “Public Work: Foundations”! Watch the lecture here.

On September 29, Roy T. Decker, FAIA, will be presenting to AIA Cleveland on the “Search For Public Good”. He will be discussing how to expand the practice of architecture to elevate social health, environmental health, and community good as the highest order of achievement. You can visit AIA Cleveland’s website for more information, and how to register for the event!

Congratulations to Anne Marie Duvall Decker, FAIA for being appointed to the 2021-2023 Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations’ (OBO) Industry Advisory Group! “The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations’ (OBO) Industry Advisory Group (IAG) has ensured OBO is adopting the building industry’s latest concepts, methods, best practices, innovations, and ideas related to its mission to provide safe, secure, and resilient facilities for the U.S. Government since its founding in 2001.” To read the full press release, click here.

Roy Decker, FAIA, will be lecturing at Rural Studio Annual Pig Roast on April 27, 2021. Roy will be the first in-person lecturer at the Studio since March 2020.

Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA, has been selected as one of 400 featured designers in the SAY IT LOUD – NOW Global Exhibition. Click here to learn about her role as a featured designer. The SAY IT LOUD exhibition series was created by New-York based Pascale Saban, founder and executive director of Beyond the Built Environment. The Beyond the Built Environment is an organization that aims to address inequality by elevating and engaging Black architects. The SAY IT LOUD – NOW global exhibition series spotlights architects of color across the country. To learn more about the SAY IT LOUD exhibition series,… Read more »

We are excited to announce that Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA was recently elected National Associates Committee 2020 AIA Strategic Council Associate Representative. This position has a two-year term, with the second year of service as the 2021 Associate Director on the AIA National Board of Directors. The Strategic Council advances the profession as a unique creative body that informs the goals, objectives, and strategies of the AIA.

Fred A. Bernstein & Julia van den Hout Oculus Magazine  Fall 2020 Issue “We all want to do some kind of public good, but we could have a much bigger impact if we were joined in a collective group that shares knowledge and learning from one another.” Oculus’ 2020 fall issue looks into the issues of Climate Change and Social Justice in our country. Roy and Shannon were featured alongside their fellow Architects Declare steering committee members, including Caitlin Watson, AIA, from Kliment Halsband Architects. Architects Declare is a volunteer led-initiative focusing on the crises of climate, biodiversity, and the… Read more »

Congratulations to Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA for receiving the Presidential Citation awarded by AIA Mississippi at this year’s Mississippi Celebrates Architecture Awards Ceremony. The Presidential Citation is awarded at the discretion of the AIA Mississippi President for exceptional work that supports AIA Mississippi. Click here for more information.

American Health Law Association October 15, 2020 Barry Plunkett, Healthcare Operations Consultant, Horne, LLP, speaks with Roy Decker, Founding Partner, Duvall Decker Architects, about the impacts of COVID-19 on long-term care (LTC) facilities. The podcast discusses how COVID-19 is spreading in LTC facilities and what can be done to stem the spread, including designing new and separate visitor and resident spaces and revisiting interior finishes and building materials, such as using more impervious materials, which are easier to clean and maintain. Sponsored by Horne, LLP. Listen to the podcast here.

Roy Decker, FAIA, & Shannon Gathings, Assoc AIA, participated in US Architects Declare Town Hall on October 15, 2020. “US Architects Declare has a three-part focus on climate breakdown, social injustice, and biodiversity loss as interconnected crises that demand urgent action. We recognize that the practices of the building industry have a negative and measurable impact on the health of the environment, as well as on human and non-human forms of life. We believe that these issues must be understood in relation to each other, and that the urgency of the crisis requires immediate transformation in the way we teach,… Read more »

William Doran (architect and community planner with Duvall Decker) and Chris Starkey’s proposal was one of two selected for award of the Architectural League of New York Deborah J. Norden Fund 2020. The Norden travel grant will support their project “Sheltered: Evaluating the Potential for Design to Shape Policy Toward the Goal of Inclusive, Intentional Communities for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities.” They will visit and study enclave communities for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities across the country. Click here to learn more about their project, and the Deborah J. Norden Fund.

We believe the interlinked crises of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and societal inequity are the most serious issues of our time. Duvall Decker Architects is honored to be amongst the first US Architects to Declare our Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Commitment as a basic condition of working for Public Good. Roy Decker, FAIA and Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA, is honored to serve on the steering committee for this declaration and group. Click here to learn more about the US Architects Declare.

Roy Decker is honored to serve as the Keynote Speaker for AIA Wisconsin’s 2020 Conference on Architecture, titled the Search for Public Good. “Duvall Decker is an expanded architectural practice in search of public good. During this seminar, Roy Decker, FAIA, will share his firm’s dedication to design excellence, education, craft, and work that is infused with a search for meaning. We speculate hopefully on our culture’s health and growth. We expanded our practice, not to create separate sets of services, but to integrate broader services into one creative studio that is involved in our communities before projects are conceived,… Read more »

We are excited to announce that Roy Decker has been selected as one of the five jurors for the 2020 COTE Top Ten Awards. The COTE Top Ten Awards is the industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence. Each year, ten innovative projects are recognized for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance. Click here to find out more!

We are excited to announce Anne Marie Decker has been chosen to be on the selection committee for the American Roundtable. The American Roundtable is a new Architectural League initiative, which will bring together on-the-ground perspectives on the condition of American communities and what they need to thrive going forward. To find out more information on the American Roundtable, click here.

AIA – TopicArchitecture December 10,2019 Midtown, a neighborhood in Jackson, Mississippi, was experiencing plummeting property values and rising crime rates like many other inner-city areas across the United States. Despite investments in community programs and affordable housing, Midtown couldn’t bounce back from the stress and residents continued to move out. It needed something different to revitalize the neighborhood. Duvall Decker, a Jackson, Mississippi, architecture firm, was recruited to work alongside residents and community leaders to develop a master plan. Together, they transformed the struggling area into an example of healthy community revitalization. Duvall Decker is known for strategic grassroots planning… Read more »

Zachary R. Henry, Assoc AIA, has been elected by the members of AIA Mississippi to serve as the 2020 Associate Director. The Associate Director is in charge of fostering the relationship between the state’s students, associate members, and newly licensed emerging professionals. He was re-elected to a second term to serve as the 2021 Associate Director.

Ryan Chan UpKeep Maintenance Management CMMS October 18, 2019 Roy Decker is honored to have been a presenter at the Maintainers III Conference in Washington DC. This follow-up article written by UpKeep Maintenance Management CMMS shares some of his thoughts that he presented at the conference. “We learned so much at the Maintainers III Conference, but one of the most interesting presentations was by Roy Decker of Duvall Decker Architecture. Roy spoke about shifting the practice of architecture to include the entirety of a building’s life, bringing maintenance to meet architecture. His firm is leading the way in changing how architects think… Read more »

Fairmont State University  October 07, 2019 The Fairmont State University Architecture program will present the Mayfield Lecture 2019 featuring Anne Marie Duvall Decker at 7 p.m. on October 22. The event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Engineering Technology Building, followed by the lecture at 7 p.m. in MMA in the library. The lecture topic is “Public Work—Architecture as an Instrument.” The event is presented in partnership with the American Institute of Architects West Virginia and is supported by the West Virginia Foundation for Architecture. The Mayfield Lecture, named for Jeffrey Mayfield, Fairmont… Read more »

Shannon Gathings & William Doran will be representing Duvall Decker at the Association for Community Design’s 2019 People+ Conference in Greenwood, Mississippi, June 27 -29. Shannon Gathings will be participating in a panel discussion entitles “In a Tight Spot: Architects working to achieve excellence in highly constrained settings.” She will present the Mississippi Center for Justice Indianola Office Renovation as a case study of a simple project with many limitations that had a great design impact. William Doran will be giving a presentation entitled “More than a Home: Remaking a Campus for Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.” He will… Read more »

Our Studio Design Director, Cody Farris, is honored to speak at Mississippi State University School of Architecture for Tau Sigma Delta’s Friday Forum Lecture Series on April 5. He will discuss his experience and contributions to the work and process of Duvall Decker and talk about his unique perspective on the meaning and consequence of design.

Roy Decker, FAIA, will be representing Duvall Decker Architects at the Civic Innovation Conference at the 2019 Tom Tom Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia on April 9. He will be among other great speakers who will be discussing the future of the industry and a revitalized approach to civic life and community.

Jackson, MS – February 22, 2019– Roy Decker, principal of Duvall Decker Architects, a Jackson, MS architectural firm, been elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows. Elevation to the College status is awarded by a jury of peers and recognizes achievements of national significance in advancing the architectural profession. Roy Decker was granted Fellowship in the category of Design, which is granted to architects who have produced distinguished bodies of work through design. The 2019 AIA Jury of Fellows elevated 115 members out of a total membership of more than 94,000. Only 3% of members have… Read more »

Anne Marie Decker, FAIA, will travel back to her home state to speak and present at AIA East Tennessee Design Feed Series on August 28, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Architectural League of New York  March 15, 2018 The League’s annual Emerging Voices program recognizes eight firms with distinct design voices. In March and April, each firm delivers a lecture, then joins prominent architects, critics, and others in the industry for dinner and informal discussion. In the following conversation, the founders of New York City–based Leong Leong and Mississippi–based Duvall Decker Architects offer their thoughts on partnerships and professional responsibility. To read the full conversation, click here.

Roy Decker, FAIA, will present a lecture at the LSU College of Art + Design on January 24, 2018. This lecture is sponsored by our close friends at Eskew+Dumez+Ripple. Read more  

Anne Marie Decker, FAIA, to participate in panel discussions in The New School of Design’s Housing Symposium on October 12, 2017. This symposium will assess the transformative potential in the architecture of urban housing in America in a challenging time. In the face of population growth, climate change, a degraded infrastructure, a material culture invested in superficial greenwashing, and inequities in economic opportunity, a panel of prominent architects from various regions across the United States will gather to discuss the central issues of design that make urban housing successful. Read more

Roy Decker, AIA, recently sat down with Enoch Sears on his podcast the Business of Architecture the expanded practice business model of Duvall Decker. The talk is divided into two episodes. Click on the episode below to listen to Roy’s talk about how Duvall Decker works. Episode 145 : Develop Design Maintain Episode 146 : New Architect Business Model