How Architects Are Designing

Buildings With Birds in Mind

Studies suggest that between 300 million and one billion birds die
each year from building collisions, and as such, some firms are
changing their schemes to create bird-friendly exteriors
By John Gendal l
February 27, 2019
February 27, 2019

Like far too much of animal life, many bird species—one in eight, according to a
recent study—is facing a real and imminent threat of extinction. And for those
not yet in those immediate crosshairs, the struggle for life has become much
more of a struggle, as food sources dwindle (and become toxic), habitats
disappear, environmental regulations get scrapped, and invasive species present
new challenges—all in the context of a changing climate that demands new
adaptations. On top of these already considerable challenges, there is another
culprit responsible for an increasing share of bird deaths: architecture.

“Between 300 million and one billion birds die each year from building
collisions,” says John Rowden, the director of community conservation at the
National Audubon Society. “Across the country, birds face multiple threats,” he
explains, “but they also have to navigate our built environment, where they are
especially challenged by light pollution and glass surfaces.” Architects are now
starting to take this challenge seriously, designing building enclosures that
mitigate bird collisions. As Rowden explains, “the good news is that
incorporating bird-friendly design can reduce collision deaths by up to 90
percent.”
Those statistics are borne out with a recent high-profile project—the renovation
of New York’s Javits Center, an immense 760,000-square-foot exhibition hall
clad entirely in glass. Situated along the Hudson River, on Manhattan’s far West
Side, the James Ingo Freed–designed building was long a New York landmark,
but it also carried a macabre point of distinction: being the building responsible
for the most bird deaths per year in New York.
A recent renovation by FXCollaborative replaced the entire facade, transforming
what had been a dark-mirrored glass into a surface with greater transparency and
clarity. As the firm’s director of sustainability, Dan Piselli, puts it, “we reduced
bird collisions by 95 percent.” The architects did this by using glass with a subtle
fritted pattern, which not only averts bird collisions, but also cuts down on solar
heat gain for the building’s vast interior spaces. A new green roof adds vegetated
nesting and feeding space on the waterfront site.
As Piselli sees it, this is a design challenge that will only become more
prevalent. “An increasing number of buildings are being built near habitat,” he
says, “and an increasing proportion of those buildings are clad in glass.”
Governments are taking notice, too. Just this year, U.S. representatives from
Illinois, Virginia, New York, and Tennessee introduced the “Bird-Safe Building
Act,” which would require new federal buildings to incorporate bird safety into
their designs.