Virtual race showcases buildings’ daily energy usage

As part of the City of Sydney’s annual Art & About Sydney festival, a special video installation will represent the energy usage of local offices through a race with virtual athletes.

‘Building Run’, installed at Deutsche Bank Place, comprises five screens which relate to five local office buildings - 400 George Street, 255 Elizabeth Street, the BT Tower, Customs House and Deutsche Bank Place itself. It will use real-time data to fuel the performance of each building’s ‘virtual athlete’, who will be running on each screen a daily race to see who can achieve a personal best for energy usage.

“As energy levels ramp up, the buildings’ runners will become visibly exhausted - their cheeks will go red, their breathing will get heavier and they will sweat,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

“Low energy use in the buildings will make the virtual athletes run a more efficient race.”

The project’s artist, Keith Deverell, said the video installation “comments, through the language of sport and the healthy body, on how we as occupants affect the health of a building - in this case its energy consumption”.

“In developing this artwork, I was interested in the idea that buildings are living and breathing organisms - much like human beings - and that a healthy body image is as relevant to buildings as it is to humans,” he said.

The project is sponsored by Investa Office and Deutsche Bank and supported by Carbon Arts and Buildings Alive.

General Manager, Corporate Sustainability, Investa Office Beck Dawson noted: “While the built environment is responsible for a considerable amount of our country’s carbon dioxide emissions - up to 23% - it’s our people, those who spend time day in, day out within these workspaces, who also have a key role to play in improving energy efficiency and minimising our emissions.”

Executive Chairman of Deutsche Bank Australia and New Zealand JT Macfarlane said the bank is passionate about sustainability through energy efficiency.

“One of the reasons we moved into Deutsche Bank Place in 2005 was because it was among the most energy-efficient buildings in the world, helping Deutsche Bank to achieve its global goal of becoming carbon neutral as of 2013,” Macfarlane said.

Building Run will operate at The Assembly, Deutsche Bank Place (126 Phillip Street, Sydney) from 20 September to 19 October from Mondays to Saturdays.