Seven Buildings That Put Red to Work, From Arenas to Pigsties

A 5,650-seat ice hockey arena clad in zigzagging red aluminium panels leads a new roundup of seven buildings that use red as their primary architectural statement.

The survey, published by Dezeen, spans fire stations, cabins, offices, houses and a university extension across Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Ukraine, Latvia and the United States. The projects share one tactic: red cladding deployed to build identity fast.

What does red accomplish for these architects?

For public buildings, red anchors civic recognition. For private ones, it sells. The roundup shows the colour working at budgets and scales that range from an off-grid cabin to a 12,000-square-metre logistics hub.

Jihlava Municipal Arena, Czech Republic, by Chybík + Krištof. Local studio Chybík + Krištof completed the 5,650-seat arena with a zigzagging facade of red aluminium panels, chosen to create a strong civic identity. The building serves as a cultural hub for Jihlava and as home to a local ice hockey team, to which the red facade also nods.

Lidens Brandstation, Sweden, by Kod Arkitekter. Stockholm studio Kod Arkitekter wrapped a fire station in Liden in bright red-stained cladding to mark it as a local landmark. Its concrete and glue-laminated timber structure sits partially sunken into a site chosen for proximity to a highway, ensuring what the studio calls "rapid emergency response".

Cucu, Ireland, by Studio Bucky. New York practice Studio Bucky used red-stained shingles to create what it describes as a "sense of personality and wonder" at the off-grid Cucu cabin in rural Westmeath. The tapered form and irregular openings serve the studio's brief for a unique retreat for cabin rental brand Samsú.

Prostir Business Hub, Ukraine, by Aranchii Architects. Warehouse-like volumes cloaked in bright red metal panels form this hub on the outskirts of Lviv, in the village of Zymna Voda. Local studio Aranchii Architects organised 12,000 square metres of commercial, office and storage space across a trio of buildings with curved gable roofs.

House Comet, Latvia, by Gaiss. Local studio Gaiss designed this Riga family home as a contemporary take on a traditional Latvian barn. Red-painted timber walls and a white corrugated metal roof give the house what the practice calls a "bold and distinctive" exterior.

William T Cannady Hall for Architecture, US, by Karamuk Kuo. Swiss studio Karamuk Kuo added a jagged terracotta and glass extension to the Rice School of Architecture in Houston, Texas. The two-storey, 22,000-square-foot (2,044-square-metre) addition carries a sawtooth roof that "echoes the industrial vocabulary of fabrication spaces".

House With a Red Addition, Czech Republic, by Facha Architekti. Prague-based Facha Architekti attached a red corrugated-metal extension to a small family home housed in a former pigsty. The expansion adds living space and an adjacent larch terrace that improves connections to the outdoors.

The through-line for practitioners: red costs little more than any other finish, yet it buys instant recognisability, whether the client is a city, a rental brand or a family converting farm buildings.