Chicago's Lakeside Center Installs $1.2M in Bird-Safe Film on Exterior Glass, Curtain Wall | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

A year after nearly 1,000 migrating birds were killed from striking exterior glass at Lakeside Center, an exhibition space at McCormick Place in Chicago, a $1.2-million project to install bird-friendly film on windows, curtain wall and other exterior glass covering the size of two football fields has been completed.

Most of the bird kills have occurred on the east and north sides of Lakeside Center, completed in 1971
Photo by Daryl Coldron, courtesy of the Field Museum

The film was manufactured by Toronto-based Feather Friendly. The installation, which took three months to complete, was done by NGS Films and Graphics of Canton, Ga. The application, which started in June, required temperatures to be above 50 degrees consistently for the product to properly adhere to the windows. Installers worked in two shifts, five days per week.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (commonly known as McPier), which operates the center, pursued the window-film solution to minimize collisions based on recommendations from local, national and international bird and animal advocacy groups, including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Chicago Bird Collision Monitors and Never Collide. 

“When we learned of the reported mass collision event last year, we knew that we needed to quickly make additional improvements to protect local and migratory birds as they pass McCormick Place,” says Larita Clark, CEO of McPier.

The film, which has a pattern that is not visible at a distance to human eyes, is visible to birds and helps them distinguish between open air and glass. For new construction, many architects specify a frit pattern that's manufactured with the glass itself. 

Birds will be able to see the film applied to windows at Lakeside Center in Chicago.
Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Exposition and Pier Authority. 

Brian Smith, assistant regional director for migratory birds for the wildlife service’s Midwest region, commended exhibition authority for its response ahead of this year’s fall migratory bird season.

“MPEA leadership was open to suggestions, and they were transparent with us as they implemented swift and significant changes to their lighting and existing windows to reduce risk to birds in future migratory seasons,” he said.

In addition to the window film, McPier also reaffirmed its commitment to the Lights Out Chicago program, which requires buildings to turn off their lights when they are unoccupied. It also began shutting off unnecessary external lights that may attract wildlife, and enacted a policy requiring drapes to be closed overnight at Lakeside Center to prevent light from escaping.

Dr. Julian Siggers, president and CEO of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, which has been documenting bird collisions at Lakeside Center for more than four decades, expects the film to reduce the number of bird collisions.

“Field Museum researchers have documented bird collisions at Lakeside Center for more than four decades, and we would expect to see a measurable reduction in those numbers this fall migration season as a result of the new window treatment and policies MPEA has enacted,” he said.

Smith said McPier's efforts “will provide a model for buildings to reduce bird collisions all over Chicago and the world.”

Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 11 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.