Milwaukee Bucks Arena Under Construction in June 2016
You may have been sitting in your house or office one day and noticed the distinct sound of a bird hitting the window. It’s pretty common, as it’s estimated that as many as 988 million birds die in the US each year by colliding into glass. The new arena that will house the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks has incorporated some design elements that will reduce the amount of birds killed by the massive structure, allowing it to be dubbed the “World’s Most Bird Friendly Sports Arena.”
Almost 1 billion birds dying from window collisions seems absolutely insane and some simple design changes can help reduce that number. The architect of the new arena, Populous, worked with the director of Bird City Wisconsin to incorporate bird friendly aspects into the design. As a bonus, the project will also receive a LEED credit for “bird collision deterrence,” a first for any professional sports arena.
The most impactful feature for reducing bird collisions on the building is a window treatment called fritting. Fritting is a pattern on the glass hat still allows transparency, but allows birds to more clearly see that it’s an object that they can run into. Energy reduction is also a positive side effect of fritting, Populous explained to the Journal Sentinel. In addition to the fritting, the designers also controlled the arena’s lighting to make it darker overnight.
During construction, the Milwaukee Buck’s arena construction site was sponsored by Milwaukee Tool, and, according to reports, the contractors on site were supplied tools by the manufacturer.
Full story: Fiserv Forum deemed the world's first bird-friendly sports arena after Bucks tweak design | journal sentinel
