Chicago’s 82-story Aqua Tower appears to flutter with the wind. Its unusual, undulating facade has made it one of the most unique features of Chicago’s skyline, distinct from the many right-angled glass towers that surround it.
In designing it, the architect Jeanne Gang thought not only about how humans would see it, dancing against the sky, but also how it would look to the birds who fly past. The irregularity of the building’s face allows birds to see it more clearly and avoid fatal collisions. “It’s kind of designed to work for both humans and birds,” she said.
As many as 1 billion birds in the US die in building collisions each year. And Chicago, which sits along the Mississippi Flyway, one of the four major north-south migration routes, is among the riskiest places for birds. This year, at least 1,000 birds died in one day from colliding with a single glass-covered building. In New York, which lies along the Atlantic Flyway, hundreds of species traverse the skyline and tens of thousands die each year.
This year, at least 1,000 birds died in one day from colliding with a single glass-covered building.
Are there, like, piles of bird corpses at the bottom of these buildings? Is it a full time job just to walk around the building over and over with a snow shovel and a trash cart to prevent piles of bird corpses?
Assuming a 16-hour day for activity, that’s just over a bird a minute. Given the flocking behaviour of many species, that might mean occasional “rainfalls” of dead and injured birds.
I’ve walked in cities around the world, and have never actually seen a dead bird on the ground? I’ve seen plenty on rural sidewalks, though. 🤔
Here’s a 99 Percent Invisible podcast episode about bird-safe buildings. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/murder-most-fowl/
An organization is interviewed in the episode, and they talk about sending people around in the morning to collect and count dead birds, at least occasionally for a survey.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
As awareness grows of the dangers posed by glistening towers and bright lights, architects are starting to reimagine city skylines to design buildings that are both aesthetically daring and bird-safe.
After several years of investigation, she found there was little in the way of practical tips for architects, and she teamed up with the conservation group NYC Audubon, to develop a bird-safe building guide.
About a decade ago, Piselli’s firm worked on a half-billion-dollar renovation of New York’s Jacob K Javits Convention Center, a gleaming glass-clad space frame structure that was killing 4,000-5,000 birds a year.
In the Netherlands, the facade of the World Wildlife Fund headquarters, a futuristic structure that looks like an undulating blob of mercury, contains nest boxes and spaces for birds and bats to live.
Earlier this year, Azadeh Omidfar Sawyer, an assistant professor in building technology in the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, developed open-source software to help designers create bespoke, bird-friendly glass patterns.
Whether they’re large or small, the challenge of designing buildings that are safe for birds can be “liberating”, said Gang, who has become an avid birdwatcher and now carries a pair of binoculars on her morning jogs.
The original article contains 1,382 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
