The Swastika building is getting a face-lift
(found via Natural Search Blog)
One of the first odd finds that we posted on Google Earth Hacks back in mid-2005 was a building in California that was shaped like a Swastika. Since that time, it's been downloaded from GEH over 8,000 times. The same image on Flickr has been viewed over 16,000 times.
Chris Smith at the Natural Search Blog did some research into the building and found that is a Navy building, unintentionally built in that shape, because no one then expected millions of people to be able to view it from above.
CNN reported on the building today and included one new detail: The Navy has taken so much grief for the building that they're going to spend about $600,000 to add landscaping and structures to make it look different from above.
As Chris says, while more and more companies are looking into rooftop advertising this is the first case of a building being modified just to improve PR.