2007 Awards

Planning, Analysis, Research, and Communication | Bird-Safe Building Guidelines

Honor Award      

Bird-Safe Building Guidelines

SCAPE  PLLC 
http://www.scapestudio.com    

Gleaming by day and glittering at night, glazed buildings that make up modern city skylines and suburban settings present serious hazards for birds. Bird populations, already in major decline from loss of habitat, are seriously threatened by the relatively recent incursion of man-made structures into avian air space. Millions of birds perish each year from encounters with buildings. Bird injury or death is largely attributable to two factors: transparency and reflectivity of glass in the daytime, and attraction to light at night. The NYC Audubon Bird-Safe Building Guidelines review the threats to birds in the built environment, advocate a series of preventative and rehabilitative design strategies, and describe precedents for regulatory initiatives. They are intended for use by architects, landscape architects, engineers, glass technicians, environmentalists, building owners and operators, construction industry stakeholders, city planners, civic officials, state and federal agencies, and the general public. The Guidelines complement and inform today's green building initiatives, especially the widely utilized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system developed by the US Green Building Council.