Red is a dramatic color. Always eliciting a strong visceral response we’ve evolved to become alarmed when we see it since its oldest association is with the natural hue of blood when it’s outside the body. As such red has been employed over time as the color of warning signs stoplights and emergency response and when used in architecture it is often in the service of one of these goals.

The importance of this association is not lost on architects who use it discriminately. As evidenced in the projects below it is exactly these subconscious attributes that make red a popular color to apply liberally in non-emergency settings. Whether helping a project stand out from its surroundings or as a complement to them it’s impossible to divorce this color from its deeply reflexive meaning. These projects exhibit a wide range of scale program and intent but the attention-grabbing effect is always the same: If you make something red people will notice.