Last year, Duvall Decker won a Best of Practice Award for the Best Medium Architecture Firm in the Southeast. It was the studios second consecutive AN award. Best of Practice is ANs annual awards program that seeks to celebrate studios working in the AEC industry. This honor is not just about a well-designed projectbut about designing companies that can best serve the built environment and its people. Considering office culture, ethos, and output, Best of Practice awards firms across architecture, landscape, real estate, development, contractor, and consulting categories that are moving the needle on how these structures should be organized.Duvall Decker has won this award twice for the studios commitment to community responsibility. At the helm of the consistently winning firm is Anne Marie Duvall Decker. The principal sees architecture as a way to engage with the material phenomena of the world and its systems and helps guide the firm with this ethos. This year, she joins the 2025 Best of Practice Awards jury, which also includes Antoine Bryant, managing director of Gensler Detroit; Jacob Reidel, Harvard GSDs assistant professor in practice; Steve Radom, founder of Radom Capital; and more. Below she told AN the practices that guide her own firm and what shell be looking for in applications. Read on to get her advice on applying and submit entries before the deadline on March 28.U.S. Courthouse (Courtesy Duvall Decker)AN: Duvall Decker has now won a Best of Practice Award two years in a row. What does this achievement mean to you and the firm?Anne Marie Duvall Decker (AMDD): We often say, The most important project for a design studio is the design of the practice itself. Crafting the studio environment and cultivating a kinship around the firms point of view with collaborators, clients, consultants, community members, and contractors is essential for a studio to be productive and have a healthy impact. It is this kind of impact that we believe The Architects Newspaper is honoring when they name a firm as Best of Practice, and we are proud to be recognized in this way. AN: How would you describe the philosophies and principals of the practiceboth in terms of office culture and design?AMDD: Because we started the firm with a belief that all architecture is public work, we have been writing and reflecting on our philosophies and principles from the beginning. We recently published Duvall Decker Foundations, which describes the propositions and tactics we have developed through the years. Foundation #1 is enigma: making useful and engaging architecture is not about, or limited to, the logic of problem-solving or service. Engaging form is enigmatic, elusive, open, and hard to know fully. Only the architect who makes an enigma of the solution is involved in making art.Foundation #53 is best idea wins. Innovative ideas are the most valuable assets a creative organization creates, and as such, Duvall Decker values the voices of all collaborators in the work. Constructive criticisms and suggestions on design solutions, standard practices, daily processes, operations, and quality control are expected and encouraged. While team members may be assigned to one project or work primarily for one company, Duvall Decker recognizes the value of each employees roaming rights to voice their ideas about any project, policy, or company practice. We believe that the quality of the building or environment we are making matters more than any one position, authority, or ego. We value learning from each other and the collaborative practice of recognizing the best ideas from each of us. The best idea wins, every day. AN: An integral part of the firms practice is its consultation services. Can you elaborate on this service? Why is this element of the practice important?AMDD: After completing our first two K12 buildings for the Newton Municipal School District, its progressive and dynamic superintendent, Mina Bryan (Bryan-Lightsey), came to trust in our commitment to the districts long-term success. On one hand, she charged us with planning for the high school campus. On the other hand, she asked us to help her determine the criteria for hiring custodians and plan for ongoing equipment service and maintenance contracts. We began to learn about the burden of caring for buildings and realized that our knowledge and experience could allow us to provide these services independently of architectural practice.After this experience, we developed our first sister company, Dunn Management, to provide maintenance services for buildings designed by us and by others. In subsequent projects for developers, we realized the value that architects, as world-builders, can bring to projects beyond standard services, and we formed our second sister company, Eldon Development. Through this company, we develop projects and provide development consulting.Though the businesses must be distinct, all of the employees are employees of Duvall Decker. This is impactful to our team because all of the companies function as a single studio and everyone learns from the diverse services provided. It is impactful to our community and our clients, because diverse efforts broaden and deepen our ability to contribute to the long-term durability of buildings and the long-term health of our communities. AN: What would you like to see in Best of Practice applications?AMDD: I am excited to see the diversity of work that firms are undertaking! I particularly look forward to seeing a commitment to design excellence that is balanced by a commitment to serve the public good.AN: Can you share what youre working on now or forthcoming that youre particularly excited about?AMDD: We are particularly excited that the new United States courthouse in Greenville, Mississippi is nearing completion. This two-courtroom courthouse is an important expression of our third branch of government in local communities and the promise of access to federal justice in this diverse and historic Mississippi Delta community. We are also excited to be starting construction on three fire crash rescue stations for the Mississippi Air National Guard. Two are at the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport and the third is at the 186th Air Refueling Wing in Meridian, Mississippi. These buildings will support the noble and important work of the fire department team members who contribute to the safety of travelers and crews at these important airports.Best of Practice Awards will be open for submissions until midnight E.T. on March 28. Learn more about eligibility and submit here.