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It’s a simple shape, a sphere with a concave dish set in the surface. In 1977, the shape was forever linked to the movie Star Wars and is known as the Death Star. In the movie, it was a space station as large as a natural moon that housed the “ultimate weapon”, a planet-destroying laser.
1. Hotel Full Moon
The Hotel Full Moon in Baku, Azerbaijan is a design from Heerim Architects of Korea, to be built on a peninsula overlooking Full Moon Bay. The luxury hotel will have 382 rooms in its 35 stories. Another hotel on the bay will be called Hotel Crescent, also with a shape to follow its name.
That’s only the most recent example. Keep reading for others.
2. Convention Center Near Dubai
The RAK Convention and Exhibition Center in the new city of Ras al Khaimah, UAE looks very much like the Death Star. A project still in the concept stage from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the design is the result of a competition. The project team is led by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who also designed the CCTV building in Beijing. The building will hold hotels, offices, restaurants, and stores as well as a convention hall. See more pictures here.
3. Belarus National Library
The Belarus National Library moved into a new building in 2006. It’s not spherical; the shape is a rhombicuboctahedron (try saying that three times fast). During the day, the 24 sides sparkle with glass panels. At night, they are illuminated by 4646 color-changing LEDs. The Minsk building is imposing and not without controversy. It has been referred to as the Death Star both because of the way it looks and how it was financed.
4. AT&T Logo
AT&T’s world globe logo was designed by Saul Bass in 1984, replacing the phone logo that had been in use for nearly 100 years. This came about because of the forced breakup of Ma Bell into seven regional “baby bells”. SBC Communications bought AT&T in 2005, and a new, slightly different logo was unveiled. The newest one hides the classic death star spot somewhat better, but some can still see the Evil Empire in the logo.
5. Panapet
The distinctive shape of the Death Star was around before Star Wars. It’s possible that George Lucas, or some of the other creative minds behind Star Wars owned a Panasonic R-70 transistor radio, marketed as the Panapet. Very likely, in fact, since it seemed everyone had one. They were produced in the early 70s.
6. Mimas
The most amazing similacrum of the Death Star is Mimas, one of the inner moons of Saturn. It has an 80-mile-wide crater named Herschel, which looks like it could easily focus a superlaser. The uncanny resemblence is coincidental, as Star Wars was made several years before the first photographs of Mimas with its crater were taken.
If you love the shape, and don’t want to travel to Dubai, or Minsk, or Saturn, you can build your own Death Star with a Lego kit -or just watch someone else do it.
Comments (36)
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Hmmm . . . should I start worrying about death lasers now?
posted by nutmeag on 3-11-2008 at 7:28 am
Not to be critical but, the first two examples are non-existent, 3rd example is not a sphere, 4th example is a picture, the 5th one is a small toy. The only example above that really fits this category (as in big object that looks like a death star) is the moon – that IS way cool.
posted by KJ on 3-11-2008 at 7:57 am
wow, awesome project. but hard to believe it in Baku
posted by karina on 3-11-2008 at 8:10 am
ATT Your world….destroyed!
posted by Andy Taltale on 3-11-2008 at 8:26 am
Am I the only one that got Tron vibes from the Belarus library?
posted by Blackthornhiei on 3-11-2008 at 9:40 am
Reason #302 Why I Love This Site: It’s the only place I could find a list of things resembling the Death Star.
posted by Allison on 3-11-2008 at 10:07 am
KJ: Not to be critical of you, but they didn’t say “objects you can touch right now that exactly copy the Death Star in all its facets”. It says “things that resemble”. A logo created by an evil soul-sucking monopoly is a thing. So are blueprints and ideas. So are toys, be they small or not, that still resemble (resemble: as in, look/feel kind of like, in idea, ideal, shape or whatnot) the Death Star. What “category” are you talking about? /cranky retort of the day
posted by Jen on 3-11-2008 at 10:34 am
Geez, don’t let George Lucas see this post – he’ll sue you for copyright infringement…
posted by donner on 3-11-2008 at 11:46 am
Hotel Full MOON? I wonder if I can get a discount? I’LL SUE!!!!
posted by Moon on 3-11-2008 at 12:56 pm
“Am I the only one that got Tron vibes from the Belarus library?”
Am I the only one that got a boob vibe from Mimas?
posted by Sean on 3-11-2008 at 1:05 pm
The irony of the AT&T logo is hillarious, considering Darth Cheney is lobbying so hard for telecom immunity.
posted by Florida on 3-11-2008 at 1:19 pm
They’re all brazen copies of the partially deflated Franklin volleyball that’s sat on the shelf in my garage since 1982.
posted by Tom on 3-11-2008 at 2:31 pm
Man, I love Star Wars
posted by John P on 3-11-2008 at 5:01 pm
that thing below the death star-esque thing in Azberjain kind of looks like that platform that people walk around on in the republic from the newest three.
posted by curt on 3-11-2008 at 5:52 pm
Wow, my dad had one of those radios. I remember getting yelled at for playing Death Star with it, in my younger days… (;
posted by Mel on 3-11-2008 at 6:16 pm
I still think the sunsphere in Knoxville TN looks like the death satr and can’t believe it didn’t make the list.
posted by mangamike on 3-11-2008 at 7:32 pm
I think the Basketball Hall of Fame trumps at least #3…
Hmm, can’t post links but google image it and it looks pretty darn cool at night!!
posted by Melissa on 3-11-2008 at 8:29 pm
Uh, Spaceship Earth at Epcot?
posted by Vader on 3-11-2008 at 9:28 pm
What about Dinsey World’s Spaceship Earth?
posted by Jim on 3-11-2008 at 9:33 pm
Search images of the new City Hall of San Jose, CA. The globe structure looks dead-on like a Death Star in construction.
posted by tedrick on 3-11-2008 at 10:16 pm
The Lindt Lindor Ball candy, when unwrapped, looks just like a little death star… death and candy FTW!
posted by Jester on 3-11-2008 at 10:23 pm
did we forget the Death Egg???? It is probably this biggest Death Star rip off ever!!!
posted by adam on 3-11-2008 at 10:24 pm
The ‘REAL’ Death Star resides in the Rose Center for Earth and Space [Planetarium] at the American Museum of Natural History – New York City. This should be number 1!
See attachment: http**www.flickr.com/photos/flavorpillphotos/2306401713/in/set-72157604034489771/
or http**www.amnh.org/rose/scales.html
posted by Rab Bakari on 3-11-2008 at 10:52 pm
I can’t believe you the common “Magic 8 Ball.”
posted by RichiePoo on 3-12-2008 at 1:37 am
I’ve been to the real Death Star. It’s got a great starbucks at the very top.
posted by Vagine on 3-12-2008 at 7:56 am
The Belarus Library… doesn’t it have _26_ sides (25 exposed and 1 bottom.) not 24?
And why do I remember it as rhombicubicosahedron? Maybe I misread that old _Mathematics Teacher_
posted by Randy MacDonald on 3-12-2008 at 9:42 am
Wow, thats the coolest thing ive seen since J.L Rottyn ‘Dyin to Kill” video on youtube.
posted by Jerry The Ariola Patrola on 3-12-2008 at 9:51 am
What about the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA… seriously, do a google images search.
posted by Sam on 3-12-2008 at 12:22 pm
Bloom County was the first major pop culture outlet to point out the resemblance between the AT&T logo, in a 1982 strip.
Also, because no one else has said it: THAT’S NO MOON!
posted by Menachem on 3-13-2008 at 1:56 am
Vancouver BC, we have a geodesic dome building that houses Science World.
It’s all silver and sparkly and more of a sphere than the Belarus library.
posted by Popsi_zen on 3-14-2008 at 5:12 pm
Dude…we totally have the Death Star in our own solar system! That would be frightening, except that it seems to have its attention focused on Jupiter, and has for a very, very long time…
posted by Kate on 3-20-2008 at 2:45 pm
um… The Daily Show!
Look at the table base: (google this: abcnews Bolivian President Jokes on ‘Daily Show)
posted by ben on 3-20-2008 at 10:31 pm
What about the big white ball at Disney World? Because when I think Disney, I think The Dark Side.
posted by Kate on 4-29-2009 at 5:50 am
Kate, I think you mean the Epcot Center.
posted by Sara in Al on 4-29-2009 at 10:13 am
Kate — Mimas isn’t focused on Jupiter; it orbits Saturn. In any case, Mimas isn’t the only Death Star moon; it’s just the best known. Here are a couple.
Saturn’s moon Tethys has the whopping huge Odysseus crater:
photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10420
That makes it look more like an eyeball though. Not to worry; the crater Melanthius is more Death Star-eseque:
photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10412
Saturn’s moon Iapetus turns out to have several ginormous craters, any of which could double as the superlaser, and additionally, it has a strange equatorial ridge which echoes the Death Star’s equatorial trench:
photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06166
Indeed, massive impact craters seem to be startlingly common around Saturn. It’s a chaotic place.
posted by Calli Arcale on 4-29-2009 at 12:45 pm
Hilarious! Might I add the Wikipedia logo to the mix?
posted by Jim H. on 9-29-2009 at 7:24 pm