Well actually what? Glass crafts depicting birds come to mind. But now we will talk about something completely different. The problem of a modern metropolis is that the urbanized environment is fraught with too many dangers for its inhabitants, including birds. Hundreds of birds crash into the windows and glass roofs and walls of high-rise buildings every year, and this causes significant harm to their population. How to deal with this?
There are various ways to make glass visible to birds. In some cases, the etching method is used: birds see frosted glass and can go around an obstacle. Otherwise, you can apply a pattern or use special stickers and stencils depicting birds of prey. The use of such stickers is stipulated in legal documents in Europe and the USA and is recommended. But what if a designer wants to focus on the “invisibility” of glass? And stickers are more relevant for industrial buildings, where appearance is not so important. In addition, birds become accustomed to stickers and no longer see them as a threat.
German scientists found a way out of this situation and developed glass “visible” for birds. The idea was taken from nature. Alfred Meeichaber, a German lawyer and businessman, as well as a great bird lover, in the late 90s came across an article about orb-web spiders. It reported that these spiders weave a special web that is visible in the UV range. This helps them to lure insects and makes the net visible to the birds, because birds can see in this range. This idea helped in the development of bird-friendly glass. In a number of experiments, it was shown that birds see better not a continuous coating, but a chaotic pattern of intersecting lines. Glass, visible to birds and completely transparent to people, was recognized as glass. even at close range, we do not see in this part of the range. It is also important that this glass can have different characteristics, it can be made energy-saving, sun-proof or tempered, and it does not lose its properties. However, the cost of such glass will be twice as high as usual.
German scientists found a way out of this situation and developed glass “visible” for birds. The idea was taken from nature. Alfred Meeichaber, a German lawyer and businessman, as well as a great bird lover, in the late 90s came across an article about orb-web spiders. It reported that these spiders weave a special web that is visible in the UV range. This helps them to lure insects and makes the net visible to the birds, because birds can see in this range. This idea helped in the development of bird-friendly glass. In a number of experiments, it was shown that birds see better not a continuous coating, but a chaotic pattern of intersecting lines. Glass, visible to birds and completely transparent to people, was recognized as glass. even at close range, we do not see in this part of the range. It is also important that this glass can have different characteristics, it can be made energy-saving, sun-proof or tempered, and it does not lose its properties. However, the cost of such glass will be twice as high as usual.