Each new or renovated building changes its community. These interventions have consequences in the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of people who encounter them. Architects face the challenges of program, budget and schedule in every project, but the most important challenge is to find the public value of each project, no matter the type, outside of its lot lines. Architecture can promote cultural growth by becoming alive in our experience, placing us between comfort and challenge, the known and the curious. Architecture is not simply a thing, but a transaction between us and our environment. In this way, architecture behaves as instrument. It can expand our senses, capacity and understanding of who we are and who we want to be.

The work of Duvall Decker Architects explores hopeful proposition in the work of an expanded practice that includes architectural design, community planning, real estate development, and building care. We see this group of endeavors as an integration of creative work to make and maintain meaningful public environments.