Extremism
I like things that are unique and extreme.
Rick Rubin
The bad news: most of America is a sea of sameness. The good news: the bar is low - and the opportunity vast - to make a change.
The trick to creating memorable places? Adding the unique and extreme.
Some are expensive, most are not.
Here’s 10 tools to create extremism:
Neon
It needs no further introduction, and is the fast forward button for getting to extreme.
High Points
In our world of flat-topped 5-story apartment buildings, imagine a tower every once in a while to break the monotony.
And if a tower doesn’t fit the budget, what about a covered wagon?
Or just a boot.
Fire
Like neon, fire is simple and packs a powerful punch. Adding a simple fire pit to a courtyard changes everything.
Vintage Vehicles
Adding vehicles in and around a place adds energy. A flower truck with roll-down canvas sides is kitschy, yes, but extreme enough to cause a line to form.
Or set the tone with an extremely small vehicle.
Or an extremely badass one.
Spareness
Extreme spareness can be elegant.
And extreme spareness can be earnest.
Even cheap spareness can be extreme.
Radical Plants
Plants around a patio are pleasant. But take it up a few notches and make it extreme.
Cover a building in ivy and do cut-outs for the sign.
Let plants spill out in abundance from a kiosk.
Or from walls, windows, and balconies.
Intense Lighting
Uplights, downlights, and spotlights create intensity.
As do sidelights.
Vivid Colors
Murals and signs can be extreme.
Extreme vividness, and coffee:
Or just color, in the extreme:
An extreme trash can in the style of Charles and Ray Eames:
A mural gone wild.
Red lacquer is a powerful tool.
Oversized Scale
If you’re adding a roadside dinosaur, make it a big one.
Fifth Avenue is the luxury version of oversized roadside attractions.
A flatiron building is unique. Adding giant awnings is extreme.
When adding a log to a kid’s play area, make it extreme.
One Chinese lantern is cool, hundreds are extreme.
Extreme Shapes
99% of windows are rectangles. The 1% is memorable.
Giant cutouts of Giant are extreme.
There was a golden age of American signs, when extremism was revered.
Hand-painted diamonds on a newly built Sunbelt townhome? Extreme.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
Why have this:
When we can have this:
Choose unique and extreme - you’ll like it. Rick Rubin does, too.
Thank you for reading Asphalt Jungle - if you’re passionate about transformative real estate development, apply to join AUTOMATIC - a gathering for real estate developers interested in making wonderful places and the innovative retail & hospitality brands, designers, contractors, and capital providers that bring those places to life.
AUTOMATIC is coming to TEXAS
Join us in Houston on May 7 & 8th and hang with innovators like:
Superica
Tootsies
Scarlet Capital
Radom Capital
Alamo Drafthouse
Flower Child
Yonder Yoga
Heim BBQ
Sorelle Capital
El Carlos
Culinary Dropout
Triten Real Estate Partners
Dunmoor
Hot Joy
Uchi
Little Death
HomeState
Three Littles
Deal Co.
Ojo de Agua
Local Foods
Hamsa
O’Connor Capital
Dish Society
Brookfield
The Rustic
Asana Partners
Saint Arnold
Crescent Communities
Loro
Pop Mart
Many more
“AUTOMATIC is the snowball before the avalanche - it’s good shit”
Nico Marin, Pinewood Social
**follow along on LinkedIn , Twitter (X) and Instagram
Rossotti’s Alpine Inn -- greatest restaurant outdoor patio i've ever been to!