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Vitro Glass to supply bird-safe glass to new National Aviary attraction

Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass) announced that it will sponsor the installation of bird-friendly glass on the new Garden Room under construction at the National Aviary located in Pittsburgh and continue to financially support the National Aviary’s 2020 school field trip program.

Known formally as “The Garden Room at the National Aviary,” the new venue will offer sweeping views of Allegheny Commons Park and an historic rose garden, while providing flexible wedding, corporate and classroom space. Solarban 72 Acuity solar control, low-emissivity (low-e) and low-iron glass by Vitro Glass will be installed in insulating glass units (IGUs) on all four sides of the structure. The IGUs will be fabricated with Walker Glass’ AviProtek E acid-etched bird-safe glass (Pattern 213) on the first (outdoor-facing) surface.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, Cheryl Tracy, executive director of the National Aviary, said Vitro Glass has become a vital partner in the organization’s educational mission and in ensuring that America’s premier indoor bird-zoo remains a world-class facility.

“In choosing glass for The Garden Room, it was critical that our selection be bird-friendly,” Tracy explained. “We also wanted glass with an elegant, understated pattern that will allow our guests to appreciate the beautiful outdoor amenities from the new event space year-round. We have found that perfect balance thanks to the experts at Vitro Architectural Glass.

“We also appreciate the generous financial contributions that Vitro Glass continues to make to encourage and enable thousands of local schoolchildren to visit our site and take advantage of our educational programs.”

The Garden Room is the second National Aviary project Vitro Glass has sponsored in the past three years. In 2018, the glass dome covering the facility’s popular Tropical Rainforest habitat was completely replaced, pane-by-pane, with 19,600-square-feet of Starphire Ultra-Clear glass with bird-friendly acid-etched glass by Walker Glass. Vitro Glass provided materials, as well as technical and financial support for the $1.2 million project.

Solarban 72 Acuity glass features Vitro Glass’s premier solar control, triple-silver, low-e coating on a specially engineered low-iron glass substrate. Together, they provide an exceptional blend of environmental performance and clarity. In addition to preventing bird-glass collisions, this innovative combination of Vitro Glass and Walker Glass technologies will enable The Garden Room at the National Aviary to achieve its ambitious environmental goals.

AviProtek E Pattern 213 glass was designed to satisfy the American Bird Conservancy’s “2 by 4” rule. This guideline states that, to be bird-friendly, any pattern on a glass surface must uniformly cover the entire window and consist of lines, dots or other geometric figures separated by no more than two inches if oriented in horizontal rows, or by four inches if oriented in vertical columns.