Duvall Decker Architects Takes Home Four of Nine Awards at Annual Convention

Jackson, MS, July 27, 2011 -- Jackson architectural firm Duvall Decker Architects, P.A. took home four design awards from two independent juries, the Mississippi chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Brick Industry Southeast, during the AIA Mississippi annual convention in Sandestin, FL. 

The AIA Mississippi jury was led by architect R. Allen Eskew, FAIA, principal of nationally renowned New Orleans firm Eskew+Dumez+Ripple.  The Jury awarded two merit and two honor awards from forty entries across the state.

The BrickDesign Southeast jury was comprised of distinguished design professionals from Atlanta and awarded two merit awards, one honor and the prestigious President’s Award.

1. The recently completed Bennie G. Thompson Academic & Civil Rights Research Center at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi received the AIA Mississippi Honor Award, as well as the Brick Design President’s Award. The 27,000 square foot academic facility is a key project of the College’s Master Plan which restores the spatial enclosure of the campus center, houses an art gallery, archive, lecture hall, classrooms, conference center, and an on-campus office for Congressman Thompson.  Jurors of the Design Awards remarked on the project’s “excellent composition,” and the “careful detailing and refinement of the building’s components.” The jury also recognized the design team’s “leadership of making a contemporary building on a traditional campus.”  Jurors of the Brick Awards noted “the contrast of solid, brick-clad forms with nicely articulated fenestration is deftly orchestrated.  The attention paid to solidity vs. transparency is wisely informed by the site’s solar orientation.  The employment of these various form-making strategies results in a timeless piece of modern architecture.”

2. The Coahoma County Higher Education Center, Phase I, in Clarksdale, Mississippi was recognized with an AIA Mississippi Merit Award and a Brick Design Honor Award.  The higher education center was built in partnership with Coahoma County, Coahoma Community College and Delta State University, to provide an educational and cultural resource for Clarksdale and delta residents.  The facility includes classrooms, a distance learning center, a computer resource center, a Viking teaching kitchen, an exterior amphitheater and a conference center (phase II).   The project surrounds and frames the historic Cutrer Mansion and links across town to the Blues Museum.    Jurors of the Design Awards remarked on the project’s “respect of the historic mansion” using the “amphitheatre as a strong move of connection.” The jury also recognized the design team’s “strong connection to the site” and the use of “transparency to connect inside/outside to create a strong sense of place for the building.”  Jurors of the Brick Awards noted “The center strikes a wonderful relationship with the existing mansion that is recessive and responsive, and has the effect of offsetting & framing the mansion.  While accomplishing this, the center is shaped by and responds to the larger cultural, topographic, and natural features of the site.  The darker materials of brown brick, copper, painted steel, and concrete used in the center form both a backdrop to the mansion and establish a material and textural composition that relates more to the surrounding woods.  The center is a modern composition that is architecturally as good as the mansion that it relates to.”

“Duvall Decker seeks to create engaging and useful forms and spaces which enrich the lives of those who inhabit and encounter them,” said Anne Marie Decker, AIA, principal of Duvall Decker Architects, P.A, “it is especially gratifying to also have our peers honor this work.”

Also honored with awards this year were Unabridged Architecture, PLLC, JBHM Architects, P.A., Belinda Stewart Architects, P.A., and JH&H Architects, Planners, Interiors, P.A.

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The AIA Mississippi Design Awards Program seeks to encourage excellence and elevate the quality of architecture by recognizing and honoring works of distinction by its members and bring to public attention outstanding examples of architecture and design.    New this year, the AIA Design Awards Program also included a new category of awards, the 2011 BrickDesign Awards, sponsored by the Brick Industry Southeast Region for projects with clay fired brick as a predominant building material. The BrickDesign President’s award came with a $2,000 cash prize which will be distributed to the winner’s architectural school of choice. 

Duvall Decker Architects, P.A., a Jackson, MS based architecture and planning firm, has received numerous local, regional and national awards for design excellence.  The firm has completed multiple educational facilities, public buildings, and affordable housing complexes.  Current commissions include academic facilities for Hinds Community College and Alcorn State University, library renovation for Mississippi Valley State University, and housing/urban development for multiple partners in Jackson, MS.

Duvall Decker’s work consistently considers the public aspects of the built environment to produce buildings durable in both material and memory. For information on Duvall Decker Architects, contact Roy Decker at 601.713.1128 or visit online at www.duvalldecker.com or www.facebook.com/DuvallDeckerArchitectsPA.

Firm contacts:    Roy Decker, AIA or Anne Marie Decker, AIA

DUVALL DECKER ARCHITECTS, P.A.

2915 N. State St., Jackson, MS 39216

tel  601.713.1128   fax  601.713.1168

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