Why is the Pentagon a...pentagon?

[yvr girl]

Is there any symbolism behind the shape? Is there a practical reason for it?

[Fleshdancer]

1. could this be a reason?

I don't know if this is the exact reason, but it's a good guess:

Stripped of its occupants, furniture and various decorations, the building alone is an extraordinary structure. Built during the early years of World War II, it is still thought of as one of the most efficient office buildings in the world. Despite 17.5 miles of corridors it takes only seven minutes to walk between any two points in the building.

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pentagon/about.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. This is why

http://www.edwardwillett.com/Columns/pentagon.htm

The five-sided design of the building, which seems at first glance highly symbolic--many fortresses have been pentagonal--was actually more or less accidental. The original site for the building was a tract of land known as Arlington Farms, which was bordered by five-roadways, giving it a roughly pentagon shape, which the building design reflected. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was afraid the enormous building would interfere with the view of Washington from Arlington Cemetery, so he ordered the building moved three quarters of a mile down the river to an area that included the old Hoover Airport, a brick factory, a pickle factory, a race track, a low-income residential area known as Hell's Bottom, swampland and dumps. Nevertheless, the original design endured, and the upside is that the unique design--five sides, five stories, five concentric pentagons joined by 10 connecting corridors--means you can walk from any one room to another in just seven minutes, despite the building's size.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. That's pretty cool! I often wondered why it was in that shape.

Thanks for posting!

And thanks to Yvr Grrl for asking the question!