The lost dimension

Spare a thought for 3D today. It is losing ground even before it got really established.

Somehow, it’s no longer cool to do ‘just 3D’.

It is not BIM, they say. Does not count. It has to be 4, 5, 6D.

(oh, I despair when people keep hopping from one D to the next as if they were piano keys to tap);

You go BIM shopping, and it is no longer on the menu, at least not without the (just as despised by me) ‘clash detection’ tacked onto it.

I would accept the industry having outgrown 3D, a bit like analogue-phones were phased out by the digital, if the market acted in synch with this notion of multidimensional information being only valid starting from 4.

However, that is not the case. 2D information is still pretty much the working language of AEC – Few owners can claim to have had their projects properly coordinated in digital 3D prior to execution. Projects are crying out for robust 3D digital environments, but there seem to be a gap for providers.

Design consultants keep sticking to their guns and 2D outputs while BIM specialist consultants promote 4+D.

Not that there is anything wrong with 4D, or 5, or 25D, but aiming for those is pointless if 3D is not fixed up first.

Integrity of 3D information is a must.