Chicago School Bird Strike Film, 2024

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Location: Chicago, Illinois

The Challenge

Project at a glance

  • Building: multi-story school, Chicago, Illinois
  • Year: 2024
  • Glass treated: about 2,100 square feet
  • Film: Solar Gard byDESIGN Modern Bird Strike film, dot pattern, applied to the exterior of the glass
  • Access: boom lift, with work areas coned off
  • Schedule: normal business hours, working only in areas where students were not present
  • Result: the school reported a significant reduction in bird strikes

The school’s large glass walls reflected the sky and surrounding trees, and birds were striking the glass. The strikes were a concern for staff and students and a recurring maintenance problem, and the school wanted to reduce them without losing the daylight and views the glass was designed to provide.

The Solution

In 2024 AAA Glass Tint installed Solar Gard byDESIGN Modern Bird Strike film in its dot pattern on about 2,100 square feet of the school’s glass. The film went on the exterior surface, where the reflections birds see form, so the pattern breaks up the reflection and makes the glass visible to birds.

The film keeps the glass clear for people. On 1/4 inch clear glass, Solar Gard lists the film at 88 percent visible light transmission, compared with 89 percent for the same glass without film, and 1 percent glare reduction, so daylight and the view out are essentially unchanged.

Our crew worked from a boom lift during normal business hours, only in areas where students were not present, with each work area coned off on the ground below. We do not subcontract installation; our own crews do the work.

The Result

After installation, the school reported a significant reduction in bird strikes. The building kept its daylight and views, and from inside the glass looks the same apart from the light dot pattern.

Conclusion

Questions about this project

Does bird strike film block the view? Very little. Solar Gard lists this film at 88 percent visible light transmission on 1/4 inch clear glass, against 89 percent with no film.

Is bird strike film installed inside or outside? Outside. Birds react to the reflection on the exterior surface, so the pattern has to be on that surface. Every bird film we install goes on the exterior.

Can it be installed while a school is open? Yes. On this project we worked during normal business hours, only in areas without students, with work areas coned off.

Does the whole building need film? Usually not. We typically treat the areas where collisions happen, based on where strikes occur, the shape of the facade and the customer’s or architect’s specification.

How do you choose bird film for an existing building? By where the birds are hitting, the pattern spacing or tested American Bird Conservancy rating, and how the glass will be reached. We explain it in Bird Collision Window Film for Existing Buildings.

Chicago is considering a bird-friendly building ordinance that names exterior-applied films as one qualifying method; we explain it in Chicago’s Proposed Bird-Friendly Building Ordinance. For a new-construction example, see the Red Apple School case study. See our bird strike film service, or request a free assessment.

For more of our work in Chicago, see commercial window film in Chicago.

Source: Solar Gard, byDESIGN Modern Bird Strike film data sheet, SK0314BDMBS 4/21. Reviewed by David Johnson, owner of AAA Glass Tint. Last updated October 18, 2026.

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