US Navy to alter "Swastika" Building.

[BZ]

US Navy to Alter "Swastika" Building Due to Web Maps

Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:13PM EDT



Your tax dollars at work: The US Navy will be spending about $600,000 to redesign or camouflage a 1960s barracks building in San Diego because of complaints that it looks like a swastika when viewed from the air. In the past this might have been a problem only for the occasional air traveler who happened over Coronado island, but with the advent of aerial mapping and visualization tools like Google Earth, everyone can see anything from the sky. In fact, many people have made a game out of finding oddities in satellite photos.

Now it's one thing to see landmarks like this and snicker over a designer's missteps 40 years ago (the Navy says it noticed the shape but that it didn't think anyone would see it from above), but it's another thing altogether to complain to the Navy about the shape of a building when viewed from space. But people really seem to have the time on their hands: The Navy says it's been inundated with complaints; enough, I suppose, to justify spending that much money on new structures and extra bushes. It's the first known case of its kind.

So what will the building look like when the job is done, I wonder? A set of four connected squares? A pinwheel formed from triangles? Post your ideas for what the Navy ought to do out of the wayward swastika here and we'll see if we can't pass them along to the powers that be.

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All I gotta say is... wtf. Since it was built in the 60s, years after WWII, wouldn't they stay away from designing anything remotely close to a symbol like that? More stuff for government conspiracy theorists I guess... but one would think the engineers would at least review a bird's eye view of the building they're going to build first. Another 600k of tax money gone down the drain for the army yet again.

[J@3]

that's hilarious. They should've made the grass around it circular, then they'd be really fucked. I wonder what they'll do to it.

[shadowgrin]

That building shaped like a swastika is real.
I saw it years ago in a videogame, forgot which it was. Thought it was just part of the game design.

[Andrew]

All I gotta say is... wtf. Since it was built in the 60s, years after WWII, wouldn't they stay away from designing anything remotely close to a symbol like that? More stuff for government conspiracy theorists I guess... but one would think the engineers would at least review a bird's eye view of the building they're going to build first. Another 600k of tax money gone down the drain for the army yet again.

You'd think someone would have noticed the similarity in the design at the time and come up with an alternate layout.

[Gundy]

What a huge waste of money.

[TheMC5]

You totally would have seen that it looked like a swastika in the blueprints, too. Hilarious.

[Christopherson]

You'd think someone would have noticed the similarity in the design at the time and come up with an alternate layout.

the Navy says it noticed the shape but that it didn't think anyone would see it from above

I doubt that in the 60's they could have forseen millions of people wasting time on Google Earth. While it looks like a swastika it does seem like a rather interesting building shape, one that could be quite effiecient, especially for living quarters.

[cyanide]

You totally would have seen that it looked like a swastika in the blueprints, too. Hilarious.

Well, exactly. It's not like it was an afterthought. If it was a design based on function where the form happens to be a swastika, it's a shame to waste that $600 000 if the shape is practical regardless.

[Jing]

Reminds me of the case where Virgina or some rival of VT hired a Virgina Tech Alumni, who made an addition to their football stadium, shaping it like a huge VT. Except this is on another level.

[benji]

Complex 320-325, which is located at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and is surrounded by Bougainville Road to the north, Tulagi Road to the south, Eniwetok Road to the east, and ROI Road to the west, looks like a swastika when seen from above. The final 'look' of the 6-building complex as seen from the air, was the result of an 'oversight' by Navy planners at the time. A draft study conducted by the National Register of Historic Places noted that the shape of the six-building complex was simply an oversight that went undetected during the Navy’s approval process.

The group of six buildings located were constructed between 1967-70, under a design by local architect John Mock. The original plans submitted to the Navy for the project included the two central buildings which were intended to contain a boiler plant and a recreation room; and a single "L"-shaped 3-story barracks. The plan called for the "L" shaped building to be repeated three times and placed at 90-degree angles to the central buildings. It wasn't until after the groundbreaking began that Navy officials realized how the buildings would appear when seen from above, and public knowledge rose considerably with the popularity of aerial photo programs such as Google Earth.

....

in early 2007 the San Diego chapter of the Anti-Defamation League and U.S. Representative Susan Davis began quiet talks with the Navy, and on September 26, 2007 the Navy announced that they would budget up to $600,000, starting in the fiscal year that begins October 1, to modify the buildings' walkways, "camouflage" landscaping and rooftop photovoltaic cells to hide the swastika look from the air.

[bigh0rt]

I say let it stay.

[JT_55]

Is the arcitech of the building happen to be of German descent?

[shadowgrin]

Or one that follows the teachings of Hinduism or Buddhism?

[Joe']

They're gonna spend $600,000 just to change its freaking shape?

So it's a swastika, as Jackal would say, whoopity-fucking-doo! It's even a government building so it's not that they're gonna get sued/fined or anything. Damn, what a way to waste money.

[Andrew]

I doubt that in the 60's they could have forseen millions of people wasting time on Google Earth. While it looks like a swastika it does seem like a rather interesting building shape, one that could be quite effiecient, especially for living quarters.

I suppose not, it does seem like $600,000 that could be better spent elsewhere.

[benji]

Or one that follows the teachings of Hinduism or Buddhism?

Speaking of which...

Bedspread named 'Nazi Collection' sparks outrage among Indian Jews

A home furnishing company has outraged India's Jewish community with a new line of bedspreads called "The Nazi Collection" and its use of swastikas in its promotional material, local media reported Sunday.

The furnishing dealer said the name stands for "New Arrival Zone for India" and was not meant to be anti-Semitic, according to the Times of India. But Jewish groups were furious and are considering filing a lawsuit against the furnishing dealer, Kapil Kumar Todi.

[shadowgrin]

The furnishing dealer said the name stands for "New Arrival Zone for India" and was not meant to be anti-Semitic

Nice excuse. Retarded, but funny.