RAE,
Have you noticed that many of the study carrels are shaped like backwards swastikas? Do you think that the designer, by decontextualizing and reversing this symbol of destruction, for educative purposes, is pointing to the anti-progressivism of the nazi regime while attempting to ameliorate anti-progressivism? (Or was it just an accident?)
You rightly point out that the swastika on the carrels is "backwards," i.e., the arms go in the opposite direction of the abhorred Nazi symbol. But I kinda doubt that the designer had any of what you suggest in mind. It was probably accidental. Even if it wasn't, I'd much rather think that he or she was thinking of "sun and infinity." Read this article (from the Academic American Encyclopedia).
—RAE 5/11/92