Like good health or clean drinking water, thermal comfort is an essential part of everyday life — though one we only learn to appreciate in its absence. To wit: While temperature, humidity, and air quality are all vital elements of a healthy home, they are seldom at the forefront of design thinking. Yet, even the most well-considered aesthetic quickly pales in the face of an uncomfortably hot, stuffy, or polluted environment. For Big Ass Fans (BAF), however, the seamless integration of design, comfort, sustainability and quality defines an industry-leading selection of fans for every residential space.

But why fans? While air conditioning is now practically ubiquitous in North American homes, fans offer a complement to cooling and heating, ventilation and air filtration systems. Used in concert with air conditioning, a well-placed fan promotes air circulation, temperature regulation, and humidity control. And in cold weather, a fan can help distribute heating through the home. Similarly, fans disperse particles and pollutants, amplifying the effects of ventilation and filtration. Ceiling fans can enhance indoor air quality, while also ameliorating the sustainability of more energy-intensive systems by reducing their workload, resulting in carbon footprint reductions of up to 30 per cent. And thanks to BAF, they look good doing it.

Consider the best-in-class Haiku residential fans. Recognized with numerous international design and technology awards — with a Red Dot Design Award and an iF Award among the laurels — the fan is immediately distinguished by its elegantly sculptural form. Offered in a wide range of finishes and colourways, including eye-catching and eco-friendly bamboo or luxurious aircraft-grade aluminum, the sinuous Haiku transforms the ceiling fan into an understated aesthetic interior highlight in its own right. Outdoors, it extends patio season into the hottest summer days.

While Haiku’s design draws the eye, its exceptional performance embodies the innovation and rigour that characterizes the BAF product portfolio. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor spaces, the efficient yet whisper-quiet, Energy Star-certified fan is also a showpiece of sustainable design, aerodynamically shaped for maximizing air movement. And paired with the user-friendly BAF app, Haiku’s energy-efficient LED downlight and chromatic uplights are customizable with a wealth of colour temperatures and 16 brightness settings.

What’s more, built-in smart technologies optimize the fan’s efficiency with an ideal balance of airflow and energy use, while a variable “Whoosh” setting can even simulate the effects of a natural breeze by modulating fan speed. With seven speed options to choose from, BAF boasts a range of control — from its lowest setting that offers a gentle air mixing effect to impressive cooling capabilities at higher speeds — that remains nearly unrivalled in the market.

Like all BAF products, the Haiku reflects an uncompromising commitment to quality and a continuing tradition of hand-assembled American manufacturing. Considered down to the details, each fan is also hand-balanced to ensure that they don’t wobble, click or tick — and the company stands behind its commitment to craftsmanship with a worry-free warranty.

Over its 25-year history, BAF has emerged as an international leader in fans for every scale and setting. While the company’s sleek high-volume, low-speed ceiling fans are a prominent feature of commercial spaces across the continent, BAF’s versatile and expansive residential portfolio offers an industry-leading breadth of options.

The wide range of design choices — from rustic and industrial to mid-century modern and more — is paired with an unparalleled selection of fan diameters and mounting options to provide solutions for every space, from compact dens and secondary bedrooms to spaces with soaring 8-metre-tall ceilings. BAF can even provide customers proof of concept of the effectiveness of a fan solution, thanks to the company’s proprietary SpecLab technology. The computational fluid dynamics modelling software allows users to map out their bespoke fan solution in three dimensions, providing data on annual energy savings as well carbon footprint reduction. 

For architects and interior designers, the deft integration of aesthetics, technology and performance opens a wealth of possibilities. As residential design becomes increasingly oriented around health, wellness and sustainability, the importance of air quality and energy efficiency is increasingly paramount. Just as thermal comfort only becomes apparent when it’s gone, BAF’s whisper-quiet fans seamlessly blend into a designer space. And if you happen to look up at the ceiling? They’re more than comfortable stealing the spotlight.

This content was published by Azure on behalf of BAF. Want to learn more? Explore the BAF residential lookbook here.