Swastika From Above

This swastika-shaped building complex is a U.S. Naval barracks in Coronodo, California whose unfortunate shape was discovered by the all-seeing eye of Google Earth. The buildings were built in the 1960s, and according to the Navy, the shape wasn't discovered until the project had already broken ground, which according to the Switched article, made it too late to modify the designs.

The revelation of this shape caused a number of conspiracy theories to arise. According the article, the buildings sit at the intersection of Tulagi and Bougainville, two streets named after famous WWII battles. Another theory in a different report is that the buildings turned sideways are actually hiding Calvary crosses, which, when combined with the swastika, relate very much to the Schlageter Memorial (Albert Schlageter being an icon for the Nazi youth pre-World War II.) Still another believes that the crosses point in a direct line to Jerusalem.

As a result of the controversy caused by this aerial discovery of this building, the Navy plans to spend upwards of $600,000 to camouflage the structure with landscaping, walkways and solar cells, all of which will hide the offending shape from aerial views. In my opinion, this further proves that well-known symbols such as the swastika can not ever truly be "re-owned," and will instead always carry the cultural meaning that has been assigned to them.