To the editor:

It was exhilarating to see that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center is about to get a new home within the campus.

ERDC is a premier institution of the forces. It creates new concepts and systems and needs the latest and best of facilities to generate and sustain ideas. I suppose it will somehow decrease the exodus of smart minds from our city, which has been a dismal truth in the past.

Although this is new structure, the elevation of the proposed building was not something one would expect to come up in the current times. It seems like something designed in the ’60s. A building, which is supposed to be a home of the design elite, sure needs a commensurate expression on its façade. Also I hope that this has been designed as a green building per LEED standards.

ERDC is the design nucleus of defense engineering. Keeping up with the function it’s supposed to serve, it is but obvious that the building should reflect the current advancements in design and environmental appropriateness as established by the industry standards on good design. The façade somehow does not generate such an emotion on first glance. I hope the people involved in the process have taken due cognizance of this fact and we would be proud to have another gem to showcase in the city’s building treasure.

Michel Thakur

Vicksburg