“ Hot air was getting trapped at the peak of the ceiling, and we had no way to get it down. Our Big Ass Fan immediately corrected the problem, and it's helped us maintain a temperature of 72°F (22°C) in the lobby, even on a -9°F (-22°C) day.
The one-building Breckenridge campus of Colorado Mountain College is a cross between a mountain lodge and four-star hotel lobby. Constructed using exposed brick and metal, the lobby is flanked by a fireplace at one end and a cantilevered steel stairwell on the other—along with a 40-ft (12.2-m) high ceiling. With Colorado’s frigid winters and the lobby’s high ceilings, recirculating rising heat was a necessity to keep bills low and students and staff comfortable.
Facility Director Sam Skramstad worked with the OZ architecture team to install a 10-ft (3-m) Isis® fan by Big Ass Fans® on the exposed I-beam joist system. The fan “immediately corrected the problem,” according to Skramstad. Isis works silently to push hot air down from the ceiling back to floor level, mixing the air in the space and maintaining a comfortable, consistent temperature throughout— even on the coldest winter days.
