Painting a swastika on a public building is a hate crime. But what happens when the building itself is the swastika? While appearing innocuous from the ground, the striking shape of a construction in San Diego, now on view to internet users accessing Google Earth, is unmistakable - it resembles the Nazi symbol.

Ground-breaking began for the six-building complex at the Coronado US navy base in southern California in 1967. While the original plans called for two central buildings and a single L-shaped barracks, Naval Amphibious Base Complex 320-325 evolved in design. By the time it was finished in 1970 it had four L-shaped buildings - set at right angles. That was when the problem was spotted.

The scheme's architect, John Mock, said this week that while he was aware of the shape as viewed from above he did not think it a true swastika. "We knew what it was going to look like, but it isn't that. It's four L-shaped buildings ... looking at it from the ground or the air, it still is."

Forgotten about after the initial controversy, the buildings' form has emerged again as an issue thanks to the internet and Google Earth. It has led an unlikely alliance - of bloggers, anti-discrimination activists, lawmakers and one talk-radio host - to take action. And now the navy has added $600,000 (£300,000) to its 2008 budget for camouflage. Landscaping, rock structures and solar panels should help disguise its shape.

"We take this very seriously," said Scott Sutherland, deputy public affairs officer for the Navy Region Southwest. "We don't want to be associated with something as symbolic and hateful as a swastika."

But the remedy may not stop conspiracy theorists. The buildings, surmise some bloggers, were put up by German POWs as a Hitler tribute. Others say that nearby buildings look like planes pointing at the swastika. One theory has it that, sideways, the buildings resemble Calvary crosses. And the crosses point to Jerusalem.