Anne Marie Decker, AIA

Name: Anne Marie Decker, AIA
Firm: Duvall Decker Architects, P.A.
Family: Husband and two children, 7 and 13
Years in practice: 19
Education: BArch from Mississippi State University
Your first job: My Dad’s pharmacy, Duvall Drugs, Inc.
Project you’re proudest of: Truly, they are like children, and I am proud of all of them.  Right now, I am particularly proud of the Jobie L. Martin Building at Hinds Community College.
Building you’d like to tear down: Chain drugstores at intersections, the ones with the chopped off corners.
What’s the best part of your job? That it is different every day.
What have you always wanted to tell your clients? In certain moments, I have wanted to say “Seriously?!” out loud instead of just in my head.
What’s the most annoying thing architects do? Decorate.
Architectural quote to practice by:  Duvall Decker’s Foundation #1- 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.
Favorite tool: Fountain pens.
Favorite building: Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp.
Favorite outdoor space:  Public squares in cities, example – Philadelphia.
Favorite indoor space: MOMA, not just for the space, but also for everything it offers.
Favorite city: New York (for visiting).
Best gift to give an architect: Music and movie recommendations.
If you hadn’t become an architect, what would you have been? A composer.
What’s on your iPod/Pandora/Spotify? Mumford and Sons and the National.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where? I can live anywhere in the world, and I choose Jackson, Mississippi.
Someday I’d like to: 1. Travel more. 2. Have a workshop for models and mock-ups.
The secret to my success: Persistence.
I belong to the AIA because: It is my profession’s professional association.