As Essentia Health s $900 million Vision Northland project was planned, one of their top concerns was bird safety. A key decision was made to use special glass to help protect them.
Essentia says Duluth serves as an important bird-migration route and birds are often unable to see transparent or reflective glass that is prevalent in large buildings. When it came to their new 15-story hospital tower and 8-story clinic tower, they wanted to do what they could to help prevent birds from striking the new facilities.
Therefore, the decision was made to use fritted glass on both buildings. A frit” is a ceramic layer with lines, dots or another pattern which breaks up the reflectivity of the glass and makes it visible to birds. They recognize there is a solid object in front of them and will avoid flying into it.