Hitachi's AC designs earns Prestigious Red Dot Design Award

The Hitachi air conditioning design concepts “airCloset” and “airHive” earned recognition for integrating air conditioning into interior design elements.

Hitachi air conditioning design concepts won the Red Dot Design Concept Awards 2025, including “Best of the Best” award for “airCloset” and Desgin Concept Award for “airHive”.

Rather than leaving HVAC idle between cycles, these award-winning concepts weave air conditioning into furniture and architectural features, keeping spaces functional and comfortable all year. 

Red Dot Design Concept, “Best of the Best”: “airCloset” integrates air conditioning into vertical storage furniture for seamless room-wide comfort

Designers: Liu Yang, Ravi Anand, Luis Reyes

Closets are large and tall, and they are usually fixed against a wall. These qualities make them ideal for housing an air-conditioning module.

By integrating vertical vents on the side of the storage space, the air-conditioning module blends seamlessly into the furniture. For enhanced comfort, in cooling mode, air is released from the upper section of the vents, distributing cool air evenly throughout the room. In heating mode, warm air flows from the lower part, gently warming the space from the ground up.

“With its sophisticated design and advanced functionality, the airCloset enhances indoor comfort while elevating the aesthetic appeal of contemporary interiors, making it a perfect addition to modern living,” summarized lead designer Liu Yang.

Red Dot Design Concept: “airHive” design reimagines HVAC as modular ceiling tiles for smart, scalable air quality

Designers: Luis Reyes, Yiman Yuan, Ravi Anand, Liu Yang

For office and commercial buildings, indoor air quality control is an essential factor to ensure comfort, safety, and productivity.

Uniting air purification, air conditioning, ventilation, and air quality monitoring, the “airHive” is a new modular ducted HVAC system that integrates smart functions to keep indoor environments clean and fresh while supporting architectural patterns and scalability.

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“ Not only does it bring aesthetics and modularity, but the ‘airHive’ system is also extremely flexible, as it can be expanded to more rooms over time or change configuration” said lead designer Luis Reyes.