Archinect - News

The American Bird Conservancy and Yale University issue comprehensive study on the impact of bird-friendly architecture nationwide

2023-08-14T14:47:00-04:00

A comprehensive new study linking the implementation of bird-friendly glass technology to the improvement of wildlife safety has been released by the American Bird Conservancy, offering architects what they say is a first-of-its-kind primer on an issue that still lags in the design of buildings nationally despite its popular civic and environmental appeals.

The study was published in conjunction with the Law, Ethics and Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale University Law School. Yale had previously undertaken its own Bird-Friendly Building Initiative (the study’s commissioner) and now hopes to use its findings to promote a range of policy recommendations in addition to increasing awareness as to the benefits of using fritted glass, reducing the persistence of visually uninterrupted glass curtain walls, installing window screens, and cutting down light pollution, and other practical design changes.

New York City is used as one case study, leading a group of other American cities like Alexa...

Bird Safe Philly's 'Lights Out' campaign reduces avian collisions with buildings

2023-03-21T19:17:00-04:00

A new avian-friendly program aimed at protecting bird local populations during their spring migratory period is taking off in Philadelphia with the hopes of being applied elsewhere in order to combat a mostly invisible problem impacting the ecological systems surrounding major cities across the world.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an interesting look at the success of the Lights Out Philly initiative, which encourages building owners, businesses, and individuals to turn off or reduce unnecessary lighting, especially during peak migration periods, minimizing light pollution and allowing migrating birds to navigate more safely. The program has shown a 70% decrease in the number of bird deaths caused by accidental collisions with buildings in the Center City area since being inaugurated in April of 2021.

Lights Out Philly is managed under the larger umbrella of Bird Safe Philly, a consortium of interest groups that includes the National Audubon Society and Drexel Univers...

A new study sheds light on pigeons' apparent disdain for modern architecture

2023-01-22T08:00:00-05:00

The abundance of feral pigeons [...] is mostly affected by the presence of modern buildings with low abundance of pigeons found in areas where there is a preponderance of modern buildings. The study confirms the results of international studies which indicate that the densest populations of feral pigeons occur in historic town centres, as the old buildings provide ample nesting sites, while the high human population density of both locals and tourists in historic towns provides constant food

According to the authors, the Maltese study “lays the ground for further research on feral pigeon populations and their ecology in urban environments as well as contributing information for management programmes that are tailor-made to the local situation and circumstances.”

Rat populations are also barometers of recent changes to the built environment, such as outdoor dining and the increase in brownfield sites in some countries. Pigeons' risky lifestyles may nevertheless be a useful educational resource for children.

More in line with human activity, however, the study found that birds also apparently view parks as a source of “feeding opportunities and less stress.”

PETA calls for bird-friendly glass to be included in the Smithsonian's new Bezos Learning Center

2022-09-19T17:23:00-04:00

Animal rights group PETA has issued a strong demand to the five anonymous architects in the running to design the new $130 million Bezos Learning Center at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C.

In response to the Smithsonian Institution’s recent unveiling of the final quintet of prospective designs, the group penned a letter in which it implored NASM Director Christopher Browne to require the use of bird-friendly glass in the final winning construction. PETA was alarmed by the use of reflective glass in the majority of the proposals and noted that the city lies along a major migratory route that could further endanger the lives of avian species who are killed by up to a billion annually as a result of similar buildings.

“Reflective glass windows lead to deadly crashes, while animal-friendly design elements such as masking films, frits, and ultraviolet patterns can save untold numbers of birds’ lives,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a separa...

Birdproof glass technology is getting better — but its popularity still hasn't taken off

2022-01-05T18:02:00-05:00

Architects have known how to prevent their buildings from becoming bird killers for more than a decade: Patterned glass, exterior screens and turning the lights off at night can all significantly reduce bird deaths. But those standards clash with the big glass and big views that clients associate with big money.

The problem stems from the way glass reflects green spaces surrounding them. Recent advancements in data and social media tracking have combined with architectural studies have been able to successfully produce guidelines which recommend a wide array of interventions like ceramic frits, visual dot patterns and solar shades that have been successfully demonstrated in retrofit projects such as the Javits Center.

Annual bird deaths are currently estimated to be between 100 million and 1 billion globally. Initiatives from Ennead and others have been instrumental in protecting avian annihilation, though animal rights activists continue to argue that the preventative measures are not nearly widespread enough — especially in large cities like New York.

“Every project we work on, guess what? There’s a giant plate of glass, and the client says, we want some landscape here,” SCAPE founder Kate Orff told Bloombeg. “Over the past decade, Manhattan has been remade as a giant bird killer.”

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Bird-Safe Buildings Act passes United States House of Representatives

2020-07-01T19:37:00-04:00

Following a rare show of bipartisan support, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019 has passed the United States House of Representatives and is now headed for consideration by the Senate.

The bill would require "each public building constructed, acquired, or of which more than 50% of the facade is substantially altered" by the General Services Administration (GSA) to meet the a new set of design standards geared toward eliminating collisions between birds and the structures in question.

The new regulations stipulate that "at least 90% of the exposed facade material from ground level to 40 feet shall not be composed of glass or shall be composed of [modified, bird-friendly] glass." According to the text of the bill, bird-friendly glass could be made up of "elements that preclude bird collisions without completely obscuring vision, such as secondary facades, netting, screens, shutters, and exterior shades" in addition to fritted glass assemblies and screens that limit "horizontal space...

NYC due to adopt 'bird-friendly' glass to decrease death toll

2019-12-09T11:02:00-05:00

New York City lawmakers are poised to adopt legislation requiring “bird-friendly” glass on all new construction in an effort to cut down on the tens of thousands of birds who die flying into the city's buildings every year. New York will be the largest city in the nation to require glass that is visible to birds if the measure passes. Several California cities including San Francisco and Oakland have adopted similar rules

According to ABC News, the NYC Audubon estimates that 90,000 to 230,000 birds are killed annually from flying into buildings in New York City a number only a fraction of the 1 billion that die each year around the country. The cause of death comes from the reflective glass on taller buildings, ultimately rendering the high-flyers blind from the presence of these mirrored extrusions.

The legislation proposed would require that at least 90 percent of the exterior of the first 75 feet of all new buildings or major renovations be constructed with materials that are visible to birds, such as glass with a pattern, ABC News reports.

North American bird populations are in crisis

2019-09-20T18:19:00-04:00

new research published Thursday in Science shows bird populations have continued to plummet in the past five decades, dropping by nearly three billion across North America—an overall decline of 29 percent from 1970.

Reflective, glass-skinned buildings are responsible for the deaths of over 1 billion birds each year in the United States. According to the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), buildings are the second-deadliest human-linked cause of death for birds; Only domestic cats kill a higher number of birds every year.

ABC bird experts recommend minimizing the amount of reflective glass used along building facades, avoiding the use of glass handrails and balustrades along balconies, and limiting artificial lighting at night to not confuse nocturnal migrating birds. When glass is necessary, the group recommends specifying architectural glass marked with fritted patterns and designing screens to break up expanses of glass, among many other approaches.

Architects lobby for bird-friendly glass as NYC overhauls cladding regulations

2019-09-09T20:30:00-04:00

It is estimated that up to 1 billion birds die every year in the United States due to collisions with glass facades and buildings, according to experts at the American Bird Conservancy and the Smithsonian.

This worrisome statistic has prompted municipalities to institute "bird-friendly" glass standards for certain types of buildings in cities as diverse as Minnesota, Oakland, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, and Toronto.

New York City is poised to become the latest municipality to try and reduce the number of bird collisions by adopting new rules that would require up to 90-percent of glass on new and altered buildings to be treated with films, coatings, and other decorative elements to ensure that birds can see and avoid the expanses.

FXCollaborative's Center for Global Conservation uses bird-safe glass. Image courtesy of David Sundberg/ESTO.

As the New York City Council's Committee on Housing and Buildings continues to debate the proposed regulations, architects are speaking out...

U.S. skyscrapers kill about 600 million migrating birds a year — and Chicago, Houston, and Dallas are the deadliest cities

2019-04-11T15:13:00-04:00

An estimated 600 million birds are killed by buildings every year. Especially during spring and fall migrations, birds are attracted to the glow of residential homes and skyscrapers alike. Sometimes the birds crash directly into their windows. Other times, it seems to throw off their internal compass, causing them to circle until exhausted.

The saddening statistic comes from a 2014 study led by Scott Loss, an assistant professor of global change ecology and management at Oklahoma State University. More recently, a new study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that Chicago, Houston, and Dallas are the top three U.S. cities that are especially deadly for birds, and artificial light at night is a contributing factor.

“Chicago, Houston, and Dallas are uniquely positioned in the heart of North America’s most trafficked aerial corridors. This, in combination with being some of the largest cities in the US, make them a serious threat to the passage of migrants, regardless of season,” said Kyle Horton, the lead author of the study, in a statement published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

“Now that we know where and when the largest numbers of migratory birds pass heavily lit areas we can use this to help spur extra conservation efforts in these cities,” added study co-author Cecilia Nilsson.

Making changes like incorp...

Amidst a growing glass skyline, Philly looks to keep buildings from becoming an avian death trap

2018-10-08T14:40:00-04:00

By ornithologists' best estimates, between 350 million and a billion birds in the U.S. die every year from colliding into the windows of buildings. Lacking good depth perception, birds are unable to distinguish reflections in glass from the real thing, causing them to fly into the window at full speed. In Philly, the growing glass skyline has meant that some species of songbird are being threatened by the city's current building boom.

Concerned by this avian crisis, writer Inga Saffron visited the Discovery Center in Philly, which bills itself as the first bird-safe building. Designed by Digsau, the Center—which houses the non-profits Audubon Pennsylvania and Outward Bound—employs a dotted glass developed by FXCollaborative for the Javits Convention Center that has cut bird deaths by 90%. Additionally, the architects figured out some low-cost hacks, such as stringing a curtain of plastic cord over the windows, to ensure a bird-friendly building. Read more here.

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McGregor Coxall to design “bird airport” wetland park in Tianjin

2017-02-16T21:12:00-05:00

Australian practice McGregor Coxall had the winning scheme to transform a degenerate landfill site into a new migratory-bird wetland sanctuary park in Tianjin, China. The Asian Development Bank and the Port of Tianjin co-launched the park design competition in response to the increasing loss of critical bird habitats and declining shorebird populations in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which an estimated 50 million migratory shorebirds use every year. The EAAF extends to Alaska and Russia's Taimyr Peninsula in the north, East Asia and parts of Southeast Asia, and Australia and New Zealand in the south.

As a pilot project in China's national sponge city program, the project in the Lingang region is a 60-hectare masterplan of constructed wetlands, parkland, and urban forest.

Described as a “bird airport” by the architects, the wetland sanctuary will allow weary migratory birds to feed and rest, while human visitors can check out the Water Pavilion education and research center or t...

How Better Glass Can Save Hundreds of Millions of Birds a Year

2014-11-18T13:58:00-05:00

In fact, as many as 600 million birds die in window collisions in the U.S. and Canada every year, scientists estimate. [...] A growing awareness of the threats to bird populations has prompted new laws and voluntary guidelines in cities from Toronto to San Francisco. Along with "green" building programs, these new rules are spurring demand for bird-friendly glass among architects, glass manufacturers, and their clients.

"Birdbnb" exhibits elaborate birdhouse replicas of over 50 Airbnb listings

2013-12-20T17:28:00-05:00

Whether you're flying out for the holidays, staying at home, or you happen to be a migratory bird searching for a stylish pitstop in the midst of your seasonal travels, you might want to check out the birdhouses in Airbnb's "Every Traveler Deserves a Home" campaign that launched on Dec. 16. Strict practicality aside, the quaint factor of "birdbnb" is hard to ignore.

Airbnb paired up with ad agency Pereira & O'Dell for their first integrated marketing campaign to promote travel and hospitality by aiming the spotlight on nature's most frequent flyers. A team of artists commissioned by Airbnb crafted over 50 birdhouse replicas of the company's home listings around the world.

Other participants include ornithologist Carolyn Atherton who consulted in the campaign, miniatures experts, and a behind-the-scenes film directed by Alma Har'el.

The short film (linked below) shows the artists having fun as they make the birdhouses and dance to musician Zach Shields performing his o...

Birds were the original architects

2013-06-26T01:24:00-04:00

Chee Pearlman, a design consultant and curator, ventured that nests are “probably the purest antidote to the heavy steel-and-concrete building footprints that, city by mega-city, are overtaking the globe.”

Penelope Green explores the work of a number of contemporary "nest" makers such as Jayson Fann and Porky Hefer, who make nests for relaxation, comfort or pleasure. Ms. Green also discusses some recent examples of Twigitecture created as either fine art or performance art.

Making glass fly with birds

2011-10-31T16:35:55-04:00

Retrofitting their home to eliminate feathered fatalities has worked for Brophy and Lutz. But a growing chorus of bird enthusiasts are advocating avian-friendly architecture at the design stage as the best prevention. It's a national movement that started in Chicago and has spread to other major cities, including the Twin Cities.