Did you know that Between 300 million and one billion birds die each year from building collisions? Across the country, birds face multiple threats. 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. The good news is that incorporating bird-friendly design can reduce collision deaths by up to 90 percent.(1)
The concept of bird safety is changing architecture. Exceptional bird-friendly designs have been completed across the country. There’s generally an awareness of this problem now, as architects considering this issue during the stage of design. New York City Audubon has even created an online portal, called D-Bird, where people can report building-related bird mortalities.(2)
Function, efficiency, and style are not the only focuses of building design. Buildings are now part of the ecosystem on our planet earth, and caring about how it affects every creature is critical to the sustainability of civilization, not just for the next 50 or 100 years but in fact also thousands of years in the future.
If we want to have a lush, thriving, healthy ecosystem that provides for us we also have to maintain true care and high regard for every detail relating to it. Which may include anything from building materials, to biophilic consideration, as well as impact on life forms other than humans.
1- https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/how-architects-designing-buildings-birds-mind
2- https://www.wired.com/2016/11/keep-buildings-killing-hundreds-millions-birds-year/
