The Swastika Building
Thursday, 27th September 2007 by James Turnbull
Thanks to the power of Google Earth and the internet the US Navy have decided to spend as much as $600,000 on major alterations to a perfectly good barracks. The reason for the spend is that, when viewed on Google Earth, the building complex resembles a swastika.
The four unconnected buildings are part of the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base and were built in 1967. The Navy have stated that they did notice the shape during construction, but decided that no-one would ever see it from above so there was no point in wasting the money starting again with a new design.
Of course in the 60s no-one ever thought that Google Earth would ever exist. After the shape was initially spotted back in 2005, all the crazy internet theorists have created elaborate stories of how the barracks were in fact designed by evil Nazis.
According to these stories, the Nazis managed to infiltrate the US Navy to execute their cunning plan for a Swastika building layout, with other aeroplane-shaped buildings "pointing at it". This design would then deliver their message of hate across the globe, just as soon as someone bothered to invent the internet, Google and then Google Earth...
Of course, that's all nonsense; in reality it's just some buildings with an unfortunate layout. The US Navy probably have better things to be spending their money on, but the internet hordes have spoken so the barracks must be changed, whatever the cost.
Thanks to the LA Times via js and many others.
Update: Apparently the link to LA Times is demanding a login from most people, which is very annoying. Try Google News instead.
They can just pretend it’s supposed to be a sun wheel. You see them all over the place in the Orient.
Surely some clever painting on the roof would take care of the problem without costing $600,000?
I agree with Tim. Paint a picture of BinLaden on it and everyone will be hating that instead of the shape.
I’m sure this has been said before (possibly by me) but this plan for a building is a pretty efficient way of getting light to the most amount of apartments on a restricted site and also is effcient when it comes to access and the flow of occupants. You will find buildings designed in this type of plan form quite alot but usually tweeked a bit to stop it being so explicit (post war at least!)
Question (only for you who can’t sleep at night): Why do you care? What does it matter? Are you “chosen” up there in outer space looking for additional justification for all that you claim is yours, including my land, my space, my time, my joy, my hopes, my life, everything, actually, not spoiled by your arrogance, greed, and stupidity that you are the only ones here????
At my university library the desks were square U-shaped, i.e when you sit down there’s a wall in front, left and right. They were arranged into groups of four each rotated 90 degrees from the last – forming perfect swastikas from when viewed from the second level. I think it took about a week for the desks to get rearranged.
Hey– read between the lines, people!! The Nazi’s were found to be a bunch of homosexuals gone wild— Um… NAVAL BASE??!!??
Duh—-
People, GET A LIFE….If this is all you have to worry about, than your life must really suck…grow up get some balls & see a therapist…..do we really need people who think to much about this…too really care.
Why does the word “Nazi” in a post bring out all the internet weirdos? We don’t normally get comments like these.
Looks to me like a pretty inefficient way to design a building. I don’t think it is too outlandish to suspect one architect of trying to discreetly spread a little nazi-love.
Also, did anyone ever notice that the Eiffel Tower looks like a wang? Also the Lincoln Monument.
hey frederik, i believe that’s the washington monument dumbass… but yeah, who gives a shit- let’s further stretch our military budget and spend it on frivolous bullshit like this when there’s battles in congress over body armor issue being mandatory or not for our troops
Is this really that serious?? There are children dying of malnutrition, whole villages and towns without running water, terrorists on our airplanes and more international problems than Elizabeth Taylor has had husbands or Elvis has had sightings, and our hard-earned dollars are being used to placate Internet paranoids and hypersensitive people with so much time on their hands as to inundate the US Navy with complaints about the design of a barracks built in 1967? Wow.
This is sort of a weird thing to get worked up about. Swastikas are just efficient shapes, sometimes.
Their are four natural gas faucets arranged in a plus-sign-shape at my school, and the handles are arranged so that they don’t bump into each other. In other words, it’s a swastika.
Of course it has to be changed. Obviously an unfortunate mishap. You are using logic and reason to question the descision to spend 600k. Humans are not logical. It is unintentionally advertising Nazism. This will work on the suboconsious part of the human brain that will promote Nazist ideals and values if people can ‘see’ it. Also, extremist groups may use it to convince other people, in subversive ways by story telling (eg about how the Navy has always secretively been a Nazi organisation blah blah). If a sufficent amount of people believe it then the Navy has a problem on their hands. It is as true as it is obsurd and riduculous. Our subconscious brain has a lot more control over our actions than our conscious brain will allow us to believe. Do most people out there want to promote Nazist ideals and values by using (unintentionally or otherwise) subversive or subconscious advertising techniques? Didn’t think so! CASE CLOSED!!!
I like timothy’s idea. LOL why not camoflage the building??? after all it is a Military installation. Kill two birds with one stone.
My goodness. There are certain people who will believe anything if it’s said often enough, especially if it’s a conspiracy theory. That’s ignorant. But, I have to say that if I had to live in the swastika building, I’d at least want the roof painted to say something like “Oh c’mon, knock it off. It’s just a building!”
I don’t think it’s horrible to rebuild it and I don’t think it’s horrible to leave it alone.
Who gives a rats ass? But if you’re so offended then send a check to the Navy. I don’t want any more of my taxes going to any more stupid bullshit than it already is. People that look for these types of things and cry like the little bitches are need some serious mental therapy and drug counseling.
If you look at my house from above it looks like a middle finger.
read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
Is there anyone out there who can mention dollars, without calling them hard-earned?
Wondering… How long after they change that building will it actually look any different on Google Earth? (Will they spend another 100,000 to convince the right people to update the relevant maps?)
Now, let see here, I’ve notice how people see and think what they know, and the word swastika are indeed are as the emblem of the Nazi Party, now if you look very carefully of the Navy Building and in the Webster’s Dictionary that, there are in fact alot different comparison here. Notice that in the Webster’s Dictionary showing picture of the real swastika with the arm to the left, and the Navy building show arm to the right, (this was basic designed from the ancient ltalian kingdom republic and empire known as Rome). As a Taxpayer, I find US Navy not guilty.
This so stupid; how many people are really gonna be looking at these buildings from above? Let’s get over it. I think it’s the Nazi’s who are purposely making a stink of this whole issue so that our NAVY will lose a precious $600,000.
why does it matter what it looks like is is a building and most people don’t look at the good history of the symble. so the people who read this and thank the symble is bad look at the good history. and beileve it.
There is another building in the form of a swastika, although not a “perfect” shape. Look here:
“amsterdam slotervaart ziekenhuis”
lat/lng: 52°20’53.47″N, 4°49’32.62″E
In Lugano Switzerland we have an enormous fountain shaped like a giant David Stern.
Loot at it in this pIc, it’s partially covered by vegetation now.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6749479
Is this offensive to someone flying over?
If you zoom out you will see two more building complexes that form the shapes of bombers flying toward the swastika and just past the swastika is a field that looks like it was bombed. The architect was depicting the bombing of the swastika.
I doubt any architect had a hand in putting circular sprinklers in the baseball field …
Lol.. i love the fact that theres so many people taking this seriously and its on a site that says “Google Sight-seeing, Why bother seeing the world for real?”
Take it with a pinch of salt eh guys? its just a little laugh at a design for a building. The Swastika was a shape used by the Nazi’s not created by them, its not some sort of evil shape that’ll do you harm to laugh at lol..
I want all cones (not just snow cones but also Christmas cones, even those lighted up Christmas trees) banned from the face of earth, for ever, as they remind me of KKK…
Yeah, Sip! I hate those traffic cones, too – they’re everywhere. I’m offended.
whats with the swastika/nazi thing ??? doesnt anyone know that the swastika is a sacred hindu symbol for peace… trust americans to think that a hindu/buddhist peace sign can be linked to war and persecution…next yawl be saying that osama bin laden must have flown one of the planes into WTT 7 because that fell over aswell !!! just because thats what “they” say doesnt make it true…
The American people should be more concerned with their own facsist “government,” one that has been at the root of human destruction for the last several years, both abroad and within the U.S. (UNTIED States) borders. Such a hypocritical country…spending $600,000 on covering up a fascist symbol, it’s really a bit ironic actually.
Yeah, it’s all a happy accident. Those freakin’ conspiracy theorists with tinfoil hats :shales fist:
Harriman, Bush, Brzezinski and Soros have nothing to do with Nazis!
CIA? Where did you hear about that kind of nonsense?! It’s a conspiracy theory! 😀
Denial is not just a river in Egypt…
it may be just a painting on the ground,roof, or somewhere else on the surface
some one had to have noticed the floor plan when building it
Ryan is my new hero! “They” knew about “this” because when the blueprint was laid out in front of them, “they” all saw it. $600,000.00 for what?! All they had to do was put canopys up matching the top of the building. Have “they” instructed new fly overs with new pictures?
Omg thats exagerated. Reminds me of that time in tech class when a friend resolved a problem on the big board and the circuits happend to resemble a swastika. At the time the teacher JOKINGLY asked him if that were his political affiliations.
lame………. really really lame
I’m wondering what happened to this… Did the navy spend that cash? Because the aerial image seems the same…
No the Navy hasn’t changed the building yet. First they have to appropriate the money. Then they have to commit the money. They they have to put an RFP (request for proposal) on the street so contractors can bid on the work. Then they have to award the contract. After announcing the award the loosing contractors get to protest the Navy’s decision. That takes anywhere from six months to a year. When the final award decision is made and all the lawyers have taken their cut the financial analysts suddenly discover that the money that too much time has passed and the money earmarked for the job is no longer available. Then they have to… aw, skip it. Long story short, it will be ten years before the building is camoflaged. By then the trees may have grown larger and completely disguised the fact that it is shapped like a swastika. You tax dollars at work.
great shape building, bet that upset a few people and so what!! we have far more problems in the world than a building in a peace sign shape and the symbol of a funny little Austrian fellow.