It’s the time of year when boxy Air Conditioner window units have long been shut off, but many are still lodged in windows, collecting dust and grime until their owners find time to yank them out of the windows and into winter storage. And although Central Air may reign in suburbia, single AC units are as much a part of urban centers as are noisy radiators and drafty windows.

Look up at an apartment or office building in a city; the protruding boxes are an unintentional (yet prevalent) design element. Surely architects and designers cringe when they see their work defaced by these antiquated units.

This is all to say, there’s an opening for a much more elegant solution to cooling units. Enter the Freewind Air Conditioner. The most glaringly obvious way this design improves on the window unit is that it’s ceiling mounted. At long last, your windows (and sunlight) are left undisturbed during the summer months. Laying almost flush to the ceiling, the unit is as unobtrusive and subtle as a Smoke Detector (though far more beautiful).

Mechanically, this concept is all about comfort, personal preference, and customization. Air flow direction, strength, and of course, temperature, are adjustable by the users. Free Wind uses touch technology, so to adjust the climate, you’ll just drag your finger along the side of the unit – the color will change as well, matching the “coolness” of the climate with the appropriate hue of blue. If you set a room temperature you’d like to hover around, sensors in the remote controller measure current temperature and send it to Freewind.

Yet another problem solved with Freewind: portability. There are few things more awkward to carry than the traditional AC unit, which, if you’ve ever staggered one over to your window, is extremely heavy, with odd weight distribution (and sharp to carry). Freewind is light-weight and portable. With window units, once it’s installed, it stays there. Not so with Freewind; changing your mind on where the unit should live is not a big deal.

Aesthetically, it’s clear that this AC concept is on the cutting edge of Industrial Design, and in function, it tackles a most important challenge of climate control with elegance, making slight innovations to streamline the process and modernize the oh-so-important task of keeping us cool.