The U.S. Navy has decided to spend as much as $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications to obscure the fact that one its building complexes looks like a swastika from the air. la times
Well according to the article on this building is a little over 40 years old...
Wouldnt that mean they had seen the swatsticka on the plans....
The building was built in the 60s so that means that one day some high ranking Navy offical probably while having lunch with some Architect where talking over the Ideas and requirements that the navy wanted and the Architect said I have an Idea let me just sketch on this napkin..
Ridiculous?
what do you mean?
dont know see the implications of a navy complex having such a sign?
Can you for once be sentitive.
A swastika is the representation of the worst catastrophe of modern times.
Yes, this is ridiculous. To spend that much money, taxpayers' money I'd assume, to fix a building that obviously uses radial organization to distrubute an L-shaped volume about a center. It's completely asinine to view this building as a sign that carries the burden of an immense atrocity and evil-doing. The layout of the master plan in NOT a deliberate attempt to signfy the horrendous movements of the Nazi's... and is NOT derived from such symbolic association. It is a simple pattern arrangement that speaks to movement and space. God only knows what will happen when more people begin to use Google Earth to find more building plan types viewed from space... this is an architect's nightmare. End of story... and a stupid one to report on for that matter. I wonder what Eastern civilizations think about this nonsense?
The Thing is these buildings were created 20 years after the Nazi regime, So that tells you that they must have seen it on the cd set they used to construct, so the overall master plan - site plan would have definatly shown this.
and now they want to change this..yeah i agree about it being a waste to fix this, and they should probably just leave it. But what about the navy officals and the designers from the 60's..what the hell where they thinking.. no one will notice...
in all seriousness, there are probably millions of closet case nazis out there.
furthermore, that site plan does seem too eloborate and explicit. perhaps as a sad possibility, few good ol' brass boys got together and approved the site plan over some booze and inside jokes, back then.
if we are discussing the iconographic reading of buildings, this is a rather mouthfull noise of a plan. obsurd but true. there many other buildings with the same plan. i even saw one myself in my aerial google flights but i can't remember where it was.
also related, nazi association of swastika is very offensive to hindu people's 'well being.'
i wonder if - as superinteresting sort of intimated - someone somewhere thought that by the navy using this form it might be a step toward reclamation of an ancient and generally positive symbol.
if so, it was simply an underestimation of the impact the holocaust had in the culture and the staying power that the symbol's associations would have.
my understanding apur. actually the cross with angled arms clockwise like this is an ancient symbol for darkness and misfortune, whereas the counterclockwise version is the ancient symbol for good fortune and light.
which is why i always found it so funny that the nazis chose the former.. i mean, in their own perverse minds didn't they think that they were the ultimate in good and righteous thinking and therefore would have chosen the good fortune symbol?
so maybe they should pick up the buildings and turn em counterclockwise.
basically, as s ward says, the swastika *is* an ancient and generally positive symbol, still in use as such by many especially in non-western circles.
as much as i agree that simple methods at reclamation (say, just using it over and over again with no context) underestimates the impact of nazis and the holocaust, there is a legitimate argument that its tragic and disastrous use by a perverted few should not make it forever unusable by others who have used it as a sacred symbol for centuries.
i believe that the nazi swastika is rotated 45deg, like the brilliant napkin sketch above, but the ancient peaceful symbol is orthogonal...like the navy bldg. i guess we really are spreading peace around the world.
as for intentions who knows?
i wouldnt be surprise if a former nazi officer/architect designed this in the 60's.
......
i would also question the ethics of their business inside!
I got your sarcasm. I wasn't responding to your post...(even though mine is right below yours) I was responding to the fact that this was headline news on CNN and Yahoo!. But, then again... it's CNN and Yahoo!.
The idiocy that is becoming more apparent in news reporting is the most baffling aspect of this issue.
Typical freemasons having a laugh at us all, then spending yet more of OUR money. Symbology is extremely important in todays world, and most people are illeterate.
$600k doesn't really seem like that much to ameliorate what I'm sure is a really ugly, gigantic, standard-issue government building. I mean, the taxpayer's money argument...I mean, I'd rather have my money spent on landscaping than some other gov't projects...cough *Iraq* cough...I guess my next question is, what's this magical de-swastikating landscaping going to look like?
As for people reacting to what a building looks like from the air in the age of newly ubiquitous satellite photography...it doesn't matter? You're surprised?
32 Comments
really? more than half a million dollars to correct something that you see only from this vantage?
is it just me, or does this seem like a ridiculous waste of resources?
Yes,
Ridiculous
US is funny.
hmmm. this reminds me the crescent plan in one of the 9/11 memorial competitions.
[img]http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:vNAsDWZGyMM_WM:http://www.amedigitizing.com/images/0010%2520Trucker%2520Girl.JPG[/url]
plan view for navy's consideration. sure it will cost a little more but it is all about quality.
Now THAT would be worth $600k!!!
This is so fucking ridiculous. Is this taxpayer money?
Well according to the article on this building is a little over 40 years old...
Wouldnt that mean they had seen the swatsticka on the plans....
The building was built in the 60s so that means that one day some high ranking Navy offical probably while having lunch with some Architect where talking over the Ideas and requirements that the navy wanted and the Architect said I have an Idea let me just sketch on this napkin..
Ridiculous?
what do you mean?
dont know see the implications of a navy complex having such a sign?
Can you for once be sentitive.
A swastika is the representation of the worst catastrophe of modern times.
Yes, this is ridiculous. To spend that much money, taxpayers' money I'd assume, to fix a building that obviously uses radial organization to distrubute an L-shaped volume about a center. It's completely asinine to view this building as a sign that carries the burden of an immense atrocity and evil-doing. The layout of the master plan in NOT a deliberate attempt to signfy the horrendous movements of the Nazi's... and is NOT derived from such symbolic association. It is a simple pattern arrangement that speaks to movement and space. God only knows what will happen when more people begin to use Google Earth to find more building plan types viewed from space... this is an architect's nightmare. End of story... and a stupid one to report on for that matter. I wonder what Eastern civilizations think about this nonsense?
The Thing is these buildings were created 20 years after the Nazi regime, So that tells you that they must have seen it on the cd set they used to construct, so the overall master plan - site plan would have definatly shown this.
and now they want to change this..yeah i agree about it being a waste to fix this, and they should probably just leave it. But what about the navy officals and the designers from the 60's..what the hell where they thinking.. no one will notice...
we need some alternatives
i say leave it. reclaim the swastika!
what? It means inner peace and harmony right? Whats wrong with th...oh well, carry on then.
in all seriousness, there are probably millions of closet case nazis out there.
furthermore, that site plan does seem too eloborate and explicit. perhaps as a sad possibility, few good ol' brass boys got together and approved the site plan over some booze and inside jokes, back then.
if we are discussing the iconographic reading of buildings, this is a rather mouthfull noise of a plan. obsurd but true. there many other buildings with the same plan. i even saw one myself in my aerial google flights but i can't remember where it was.
also related, nazi association of swastika is very offensive to hindu people's 'well being.'
i wonder if - as superinteresting sort of intimated - someone somewhere thought that by the navy using this form it might be a step toward reclamation of an ancient and generally positive symbol.
if so, it was simply an underestimation of the impact the holocaust had in the culture and the staying power that the symbol's associations would have.
reclaim the swastika!
??
what do you mean by this?
"Taxpayers' money"..by that we could really expand this discussion.
To Jason:
"It's completely asinine to view this building as a sign that carries the burden of an immense atrocity and evil-doing."
PLEASE READ BETWEEN THE LINES!
my understanding apur. actually the cross with angled arms clockwise like this is an ancient symbol for darkness and misfortune, whereas the counterclockwise version is the ancient symbol for good fortune and light.
which is why i always found it so funny that the nazis chose the former.. i mean, in their own perverse minds didn't they think that they were the ultimate in good and righteous thinking and therefore would have chosen the good fortune symbol?
so maybe they should pick up the buildings and turn em counterclockwise.
"reclaim the swastika!"
basically, as s ward says, the swastika *is* an ancient and generally positive symbol, still in use as such by many especially in non-western circles.
as much as i agree that simple methods at reclamation (say, just using it over and over again with no context) underestimates the impact of nazis and the holocaust, there is a legitimate argument that its tragic and disastrous use by a perverted few should not make it forever unusable by others who have used it as a sacred symbol for centuries.
one news story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4188141.stm
i believe that the nazi swastika is rotated 45deg, like the brilliant napkin sketch above, but the ancient peaceful symbol is orthogonal...like the navy bldg. i guess we really are spreading peace around the world.
does this ruffle any feathers?
or this
they want more photovaults anyway, right?... just place em creatively.. kill two birds with one stone, save a lot of money:
as for intentions who knows?
i wouldnt be surprise if a former nazi officer/architect designed this in the 60's.
......
i would also question the ethics of their business inside!
(how do i upload an image?)
use [ in lieu of the these { with this code {img}imagelocation{/img}
LOL work for idle hands!!!
scope,
I got your sarcasm. I wasn't responding to your post...(even though mine is right below yours) I was responding to the fact that this was headline news on CNN and Yahoo!. But, then again... it's CNN and Yahoo!.
The idiocy that is becoming more apparent in news reporting is the most baffling aspect of this issue.
jason, the sarcasm wasnt directed to you.
i was just making a comment to your image,
i thought it was a good idea.
i meant the overall intention.
Typical freemasons having a laugh at us all, then spending yet more of OUR money. Symbology is extremely important in todays world, and most people are illeterate.
$600k doesn't really seem like that much to ameliorate what I'm sure is a really ugly, gigantic, standard-issue government building. I mean, the taxpayer's money argument...I mean, I'd rather have my money spent on landscaping than some other gov't projects...cough *Iraq* cough...I guess my next question is, what's this magical de-swastikating landscaping going to look like?
As for people reacting to what a building looks like from the air in the age of newly ubiquitous satellite photography...it doesn't matter? You're surprised?
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2998935.ece
tear down one wing.....
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.