Tribute in Light

• A paradigm of architectural modernism, McCormick Place was built in stages from 1960 to 2017, and is a steel, concrete and glass behemoth.
• One way to prevent bird strikes is to pay more attention to the design of glass buildings in cities.
• Its wave-like facade and fritted glass were in part designed to stop birds flying into the building’s windows.
• Fritted glass is printed with ink and contains ultra-small particles of ground-up glass, giving it a frosted or otherwise slightly opaque appearance.

Bird-safe glass

• In tandem with the fritted glass, the reflective qualities and hard edges of the glass are dampened, helping to prevent confusion, particularly at night.
• Hwang temporarily applied patterns to the windows of the Sullivan Center in Chicago, ostensibly to deter birds from flying into the glass, but also to add aesthetic interest to the material itself.
• More easily applied design solutions include bird-friendly film: a laminate of dots applied to glass to help birds see windows as objects rather than transparent, which minimises the risk of collision.

Lights out

• The birds are drawn to the four-mile high beams of light, veering off their migratory routes and becoming trapped by the spectacle.
• In 2020, the decision was made to periodically switch off the lights and then restart them so that, even if the birds become disorientated, they can recover and continue on their way.
• A 2021 study carried out in Chicago demonstrated the wider application of this principle: by shutting off half the lights in larger buildings at night, bird collisions can be reduced by anything from six- to 11-fold.
• Many courtrooms, libraries and public schools in the city already turn off their lights during the bird migration season.