Following a rare show of bipartisan support, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019 has passed the United States House of Representatives and is now headed for consideration by the Senate.
The bill would require "each public building constructed, acquired, or of which more than 50% of the facade is substantially altered" by the General Services Administration (GSA) to meet the a new set of design standards geared toward eliminating collisions between birds and the structures in question.
The new regulations stipulate that "at least 90% of the exposed facade material from ground level to 40 feet shall not be composed of glass or shall be composed of [modified, bird-friendly] glass." According to the text of the bill, bird-friendly glass could be made up of "elements that preclude bird collisions without completely obscuring vision, such as secondary facades, netting, screens, shutters, and exterior shades" in addition to fritted glass assemblies and screens that limit "horizontal spaces to less than 2 inches high and vertical spaces to less than 4 inches wide."
In addition, at least 60% of the exposed facade materials above the 40-foot mark shall ascribe to these standards while buildings shall contain no "transparent passageways or corners."
Further, the bill stipulates that "all glass adjacent to atria or courtyards containing water features, plants, and other materials attractive to birds shall meet the standard" and that "outside lighting shall be appropriately shielded and minimized subject to security and other mission related requirements."
On top of this, GSA will be required to monitor bird mortality at each public building while making necessary changes to eliminate bird deaths resulting from public buildings.
The bill exempts buildings and sites listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the White House and its grounds, the Supreme Court building and its grounds, and the U.S. Capitol and its related buildings and grounds from these regulations, however.
Perhaps unexpectedly, by limiting glass exposures and requiring rigid, unbroken silhouettes, the bill would begin to align public buildings with some of the sought after visual qualities espoused by President Donald Trump's extremely controversial "Making Federal Buildings Great Again" initiative announced earlier this year. Unlike the much-derided executive order, the bill, however, makes no explicit mention of architectural style or materials beyond glass.
![M.O. Stevens](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edith_Green_-_Wendell_Wyatt_Federal_front_2012_Building2.JPG "){kind=link}
16 Comments
Here you go:
https://guardian.assetbank-server.com/assetbank-guardian/assetfile/30332.pdf
This too: https://abcbirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Bird-Friendly-Building-Design_Updated-April-2019.pdf
Also: https://www.walkerglass.com/resources/bird-safe-glass/
I often see the walker glass rep. good stuff.
Walker Glass is up there in your neck of the woods, no?
it's ok to eat birds but you can't let them fly into buildings.
You eat song birds?
Koww, um, I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but despite some comical logic; chickens and turkeys, don't actually fly.
“[The kakapo] is an extremely fat bird. A good-sized adult will weigh about six or seven pounds, and its wings are just about good for waggling a bit if it thinks it's about to trip over something — but flying is out of the question. Sadly, however, it seems that not only has the kakapo forgotten how to fly, but it has forgotten that it has forgotten how to fly. Apparently a seriously worried kakapo will sometimes run up a tree and jump out of it, whereupon it flies like a brick and lands in a graceless heap on the ground.”
Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See
Some birds are more equal than others!
some birds are tastier than others!
https://giphy.com/gifs/WpCNTlC...
Now at least, the people sleeping on the sidewalks outside won't be jarred from their sleep by the poultry falling off of the facade.
Thank Goodness, It's about time someone got to the heart of the serious issues facing the United States.
Geez.
Again, can't you walk and chew gum. How did you get to be an architect one wonders?
The birds are now the ones kept inside the building judging from that Portland picture...
I know some peeps who were part of this
By a vote of 43-3, the City Council approved that all new construction must use materials that prevent avian fatalities.
What I gather is city birds know how to deal with buildings, its the migrant bird groups who die.
Kinda like COVID. City people know how to wear masks, country folk...well, they run smack into the glass.
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