The Future of Bird-Friendly Architecture is Clear...

Researchers estimate that hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year in North America due to collisions with glass on buildings, making bird window strikes one of the largest avian fatality threats.

It is the reflective and transparent characteristics of glass that create the danger for birds, as they cannot see glass. They fly to sky and landscape reflected by or on the other side of a window or railing and hit the glass. To prevent these collisions, glass must somehow be made visible to birds.

With the understanding that birds are able to see light in the ultraviolet spectrum, ARNOLD GLAS has developed ORNILUX Bird Protection Glass. The glass has a patterned, UV reflective coating making it visible to birds while remaining virtually transparent to the human eye.

ORNILUX: The transparent solution

ORNILUX has been tested in cooperation with the American Bird Conservancy and has demonstrated to be an effective solution to mitigate bird collisions with glass on buildings, especially in areas where transparency is the top priority.

As a multi-functional glass, ORNILUX is the only clear glass solution to bird collisions and is available as insulated units with a low-E or solar control coating, offering energy efficiency and bird strike protection, or as laminated glass.

ORNILUX offers a unique and innovative bird-friendly glazing solution—maintaining the aesthetic transparency of glass while creating visual markers alerting birds to a barrier. First introduced in Europe in 2006, ORNILUX has been available in North America since 2010.

ORNILUX in the News

Project update: Ornilux at the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law building

San Francisco Chronicle: ORNILUX at Petaluma home, Jan 2014

Featured in NPR two-part report:

A Clear And Present Danger: How Glass Kills Birds

Building For Birds: Architects Aim For Safer Skies

ORNILUX Biomimicry Case Study Published

How does one get from spiders to bird-friendly glass? The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute lays out the Biology to Design story. Download here ...

ORNILUX now available with new coatings!

Now offered are arcon Uno, a neutral-color low-E with light, solar control factor, and arcon Polaris, a neutral-color solar control coating. Download the updated ORNILUX Specification & Thermal Performance sheet

ABC Bird-Friendly Building Design

"I am very pleased to announce the debut of ABC’s new publication, Bird-friendly Building Design. It is a comprehensive view of the issue, intended to be accessible to interested individuals, as well as professionals such as architects and contractors."

Dr. Christine Sheppard, Bird Collisions Campaign Manager

American Bird Conservancy

USGBC LEED Pilot Credit 55: Bird Collision Deterrence.

Architects, designers, developers, and building owners pursuing LEED certification can earn credit for incorporating design strategies that reduce bird collisions. Read more …