Saving Energy & Birds at the Boulevard Club

According to several studies and news reports, more than one billion birds die each year in North America after colliding with window structures. It is a serious issue, but understanding of it has been gaining steam over the last several years thanks to greater awareness, education and new glazing products like the AviProtek® line from Walker Glass. Having a product line available that can allow developers and architects the peace of mind that they will not be harming birds has been a great advancement.

The Boulevard Club is an iconic, century old structure in Toronto which needed an expansion. The windows facing Lake Ontario, which offer a breath taking view, needed to be bird friendly in order to reduce the number of strikes. In this case the award winning AviProtek® E, bird friendly low-e coated acid-etched glass was the right choice.

Tough Task Handled Smoothly

With any new product there are learning curves. Plus add in the pressure of a legendary structure and you have a recipe for an adventure. Fortunately the glazier on the job, Vision Aluminum was more than ready. When it came to Vision’s responsibility on the project, they made sure to seek out the most optimal product choice for the mission.

“Originally the glass was to have a bird frit coating on the 1st surface of the sealed unit. Our company turned to Trulite Industries (our glass supplier) for the most feasible product. We came to a conclusion and recommended Walker’s AviProtek® E with acid-etched markers on the outside surface and PPG solar control low-e coating on surface 2 given that its properties are wear, scratch and stain resistant as opposed to the aftermarket coating. Collectively this benefited the club giving it a lower maintenance cost on the glass. We had no complications, the great thing about Walker’s acid etched glass is that there is no aftermarket film applied to any exposed surface that makes it easy to handle and install,” Tromboukis said.

In the end, the installation of the glass went without issue and The Boulevard Club now has a distinctive and stunning addition featuring glass that has many more functions than just allowing light in.

About the Products Used

Walker Textures® AviProtek® E combines the acid-etch visual markers on the number 1 surface with the PPG Industries Solarban® high performance low-e coatings on position 2, creating the ideal bird friendly glazing solution to preserve birds’ lives and energy at the same time! This innovation brings the best of both worlds together and will help architects and building owners achieve their environmental goals and earn LEED credits, while meeting solar performance targets.

Advances in glazing materials and glass building systems offer a seemingly unlimited horizon for not only glass performance, but also for the size and extent of these light, transparent forms. Both for enclosures and for indoor environments, novel products and assemblies allow for more glass and less opaque structure—often in places that previously limited their use.

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In the world of fine art, a master painter begins with canvas selection. A linen canvas is nearly always selected over cotton because nothing delivers the artist’s authentic vision quite like linen. Similarly, with glass.

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Pictured: Boulder Community Health’s West Medical Building, Lafayette, Colo. Photo: 2020 Caleb Tkach

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