There’s an exciting new design trend happening in Los Angeles… RED!

This color isn’t for the faint of heart. From a psychological point of view, red is  associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire and love. Physiologically, it enhances human metabolism, increases the respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It also attracts attention more than any other color and often times signifies danger. So why use red for the exterior of a building?

The use of the color red for interiors and exteriors  can be traced back to the roaring 1920’s. The Formosa Cafe, founded in 1925, started out in a red trolley car. Today, while currently closed, the historically protected building still sports a red exterior. And Bullocks Wilshire, one of the cities most important art deco buildings, features this amazing geometric red paneled ceilings in one of its upstairs offices.

During the last forty to fifty years, red was reserved for things like signage and neon as a way to grab your attention while driving by. The colors red, orange and yellow were also frequently used in fast food, or quick service establishments, as a way to move their patrons through quickly. Remember the days of seeing a red stripe at eye level around a beige or tan room? It was known to quicken your heart rate, and keep you from feeling to comfortable. So you’d eat your burgers and fries quickly, and keep it pushing.

Red is considered a primary color, along with yellow and blue. And if you think about it, you rarely see any building exteriors in a primary color. That said, times are changing. Maybe it’s a desire to stand out in a world that feels a bit to monochromatic. Or maybe it has something to do with the development of new materials that can withstand fading from the increasing warm sunny days in Southern California. Whatever the case, I think it’s trend worth taking notice of. That said, I sure would love to hear from people who work across the street from one of these buildings. Are they more productive than sister locations that don’t look at red buildings? Are tensions higher in these types of offices?  Do the employees have better love lives?

When it comes to red, the one thing that never gets old in LA, is a red carpet! They conjure up a sense of excitement and anticipation. The Beverly Hills Hotel in recent years installed a permanent massive red carpet to welcome its guests. From a branding point of view, it’s quite brilliant. Whenever I take friends and family there, they’re always wowed and can’t wait to have their photo taken on it… myself included. We live in a world of social media, where photo ops are worth their weight in gold.