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.

Tested by American Bird Conservancy

Tunnel score range: 61-77

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

Bring back the RoofPod to CCNY!

The City College of New York Spitzer School of Architecture need help raising funds to return their 2012 Solar Decathlon entry (The Solar RoofPod) to the school's campus. Arnold Glas was proudly the glazing sponsor for this amazing structure, and the CCNY Solar Decathlon Team did a great job of promoting awareness of the bird collisions issue, and its importance in sustainable building design. They only have a couple of weeks remaining to raise the required funds. Please visit the online campaign here to donate. And thank you for the support!

International Migratory Bird Day

Get involved with International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) this year! We did. Ornilux is an official IMBD sponsor providing support for development of education materials and outreach to organizations offering bird conservation education. Read more….

ORNILUX in the News

Featured in NPR two-part report:

A Clear And Present Danger: How Glass Kills Birds

Building For Birds: Architects Aim For Safer Skies

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 …