"About a billion birds - die each year by crashing into buildings they cannot see.... building collision is the second biggest cause of death to birds after habitat destruction.... But even for many ecoconscious building owners and developers, the price of preventing bird kills is too high"
Now consider:
"Deconstructing Boston's skyline; Chiofaro's proposal is already sparking debate over design" by Casey Ross, Globe Staff | February 3, 2009
(Chiofaro Co.) An artist's rendering of the towers and their terra-cotta connector that Donald Chiofaro wants to build.
Donald Chiofaro wants to shake up the Boston skyline again.
The brash developer of International Place is proposing to erect near the New England Aquarium a pair of glass skyscrapers connected by a terra-cotta colored rectangle that itself would be taller than the two buildings.
The unusual design, evocative of the bold skyscrapers cropping up in Asia, is sure to set off a debate about Boston's conservative tastes in architecture as well as the kind of development that should accompany the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
Chiofaro's proposed towers - one for condominiums and a hotel, the other for offices - would be among the tallest in the city, rivaling the Prudential Building and the John Hancock Tower in the Back Bay. The buildings would be constructed on property now occupied by the Harbor Garage along Atlantic Avenue....
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Ground-floor space between the buildings would allow for several stores, restaurants, and an upscale grocery. His commercial tower, the shorter of the two, would include about 860,000 square feet of office space. The more slender building would include about 120 condominiums above a hotel. The parking now available in the Harbor Garage would be moved underground.
Jim Batchelor, president of the Boston Society of Architects, said Chiofaro is right to push for a bold, new design, which he said combines elements of massive skyscrapers in cities like Shanghai with the more boxy geometry of Boston.
"He may get some push back, but that's the nature of debate, which is a good thing to have," he said.
--more--"Did the CONCERN over the BIRDS ever make it into the ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY WAR DAILY?
I REST MY CASE!!!!
