2013 Media Releases

Virtual athletes will sprint inside a Sydney skyscraper in a real-time visualisation of office energy use, as part of the City’s annual Art & About Sydney public art festival.

Installed at Deutsche Bank Place, Australia’s first Norman Foster designed tower, Building Run is a unique project that marries art, technology and sustainability.

Real-time energy use data from offices at 400 George Street, 255 Elizabeth Street, the BT Tower, Customs House and Deutsche Bank Place will control the performance of each building’s virtual athlete in a daily race to see who can achieve a personal best for energy usage.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the project aimed to get Sydneysiders thinking about how they use energy.

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

“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.

“Data visualisations like this can challenge the way we see and interact with the world around us.

“Offices are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions in our cities – improving their energy performance, including changing our behaviour in offices, can make a big difference.”

The project’s artist, Keith Deverell, said: “Building Run is a video installation that poetically 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.”

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

Beck Dawson, General Manager, Corporate Sustainability, Investa Office, said: “While the built environment is responsible for a considerable amount of our country’s carbon dioxide emissions – up to 23 per cent – 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.

“This project has the opportunity for us to humanise the performance of our buildings and share in the conversation about how the collective behaviour of individuals can influence the energy efficiency of a building, and as a result, influence its impact on the environment.”

JT Macfarlane, Executive Chairman of Deutsche Bank Australia and New Zealand, said: “Building Run ties together two of Deutsche Bank’s greatest passions, using the power of contemporary art to focus attention on 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.”

Building Run will operate at The Assembly, Deutsche Bank Place (126 Phillip Street, Sydney) from 20 September to 19 October from 9am-7pm Monday-Thursday, 9am-9pm Friday and 11am-4pm Saturday.

To view Building Run, click here.

Art & About Sydney runs from 20 September to 20 October 2013. For more information, visit artandabout.com.au