Animal friendly architecture!

KARLSRUHE. GERMANY – An estimate of one billion birds die in the US each year as a consequence of collisions with glass panes or façades; in Germany and the UK it’s 100 million each, often from broken necks or severe concussions. The reason being birds not instinctively recognizing glass as an obstacle. They see the landscapes reflected in it or the objects located beyond the glass – a fatal error significantly increasing the mortality of global bird populations. Annually, such collisions can cause the death of 5 to 10 percent of all birds. The growth of cities is contributing their part as well, leading birds' habitats and food sources to dwindle. In addition, they can hardly adapt to climate change, just think of the current heat wave and drought in Germany. 

Although birds are obviously suffering from their developed environment, many developers and landlords only react after the animals have crashed into their windows. 3deluxe has therefore developed a façade print with a semi-transparent design that reduces such collisions. One challenge was the world looking completely different from a bird's eye perspective, because by no means does every bird see the same thing: While the blue tit, for example, has an almost all-round view thanks to its laterally positioned eyes, the snipe on the other hand only has a stereoscopic view in a narrow area to the front and back. Another example is the great tit perceiving the smallest holes in the branches as an opportunity to fly through. 

Before we developed the bird protection foil for our all-round glazed office building FC Campus for FC-Gruppe in Karlsruhe, we had Swiss ornithologists from the Sempach ornithological station (vogelwarte.ch non-profit foundation for ornithology and bird protection) research how exactly birds perceive the designs we developed. The building's location within a nature reserve and the large-scale over-corner glazing of the zero-emission building required special attention and protective measures for animals. Together with the Sempach ornithological station, we were able to develop a protective foil that’s optimal for the building. It prevents as many collisions as possible and at the same time is pleasant to the human eye and remains very discreetly perceptible to the people in their offices. 

Already one in eight bird species is threatened by extinction, and others are fighting for their lives. Let us not forget this: Birdlife is an important part of the ecosystem. While we humans have only been living on earth for 160,000 years, birds have existed for around 150 million years. In this respect, 3deluxe continues to feel obliged to look at architecture from a bird's eye view.