Bird Friendly Glass Design

My office just finished a balcony repair project at a modern glass building along the West Side of Manhattan.

The contractor had to install sidewalk bridging around the entire building to protect pedestrians from the work occuring above. What I noticed while walking on the bridge was a prevalence of beautiful and small dead birds lying all around -- victims to the confusion created with certain types of reflective glass. Among them were small downy wood peckers.

Downy wood pecker

Rand's president is an avid bird aficionado. He recently pointed me to the Audobon Society's recommendations on better glass design, which are fairly simple to incorporate into new design projects, such as fritted glass, glass divisions, like sunscreens at the New York Times Building, or angling the glass panels to reduce the amount of glare. Here is a short article about bird-friendly glass, recalling Louis Sullivan's coined phrase: Form Follows Feathers. We're hoping to recommend these design elements to our clients if give the opportunity.


Sunscreen louvers at the New York Times Building





Interior view of New York Times Building