My typical day ends with a short trip to pick up my daughter from school. The other day when I arrived, the kids were playing outside. Her teacher was seated near the door attending to one of the kid’s shoelaces. I said “hello”, as I usually do, and was ready to ask how my daughter’s day was when the teacher turned and thundered, “What is 5D?” Now I should explain that this particular teacher has a theatrical background. This is important because you need to understand how she talks and acts. Perfect for story time with the kids where the characters leap off of the pages, but at other times it can catch you off guard. Like this day. It felt as if I was pushed backward by the question. It was the same feeling of confusion I had when my 5 year old niece KO’d me in Wii Sports Boxing. Was this a test? Did she already know the answer and want to know if I knew it? Did this have something to do with my kid? Is our marketing department so good that my daughter’s teacher knows to ask ME this question? I knew the answer. At least I knew what 5D meant in my line of work. Is this what I was being asked? I stuttered a bit. “Its cost,” I said.
It turns out she had seen something on TV that referred to 5D and, being a bit of pessimist, she wanted to know from someone she trusted if it was legitimate or just jargon. This was the day I realized just how pervasive this topic has become. Not just something I hear and read about, but something that my daughter’s teacher is hearing about. And what really interests me is that she found it intriguing enough to ask a question about it. This is what drives me.
Modern design and building projects utilize Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools to make digital representations of physical objects. BIM projects assign properties to elements and can render them in all five dimensions. Imagine an electronic representation of a window that has been assigned a size (3D), a cost (4D), a lifecycle (5D) and any number of other variables such as the thermal performance, visible light transmittance etc. This data can be exercised and manipulated to advance the design solution, improve the construction process, and reduce project risk for all stakeholders. BIM tools have the ability to identify opportunities early and push building designs further than we have even imagined.
The process centers on the information. The information informs the model, the budget and the schedule (all 5 D’s). The information obtained by asking questions....Questions generated by interest....Interest that my daughter’s teacher, and so many others have been exhibiting. Interest that will lead my daughter to think this is how it has always been done, because this is the right way to be doing it.
Labels: 3D, 4D, 5D, BIM
