Not content with waiting for the arrival of the fourth dimension into our volumetric world, Graphisoft is unveiling 5D CAD. That’s right FIVE Ds. The first three Ds are familiar to us all and the fourth D is generally considered to be something to do with time. I, like you, am always in favour of CAD packages incorporating more dimensions and I remember seeing some documentary about string theory where they talked about all sorts of different dimensions. Like, 25D and 17D. I shudder to imagine the glasses they would make you wear at a 17D Imax movie but I think that architects will only benefit from access to extra planes of being.

To be honest though, I had never thought the manipulation of other dimensions would be a feature of CAD in my lifetime. I did not even consider that I would ever be able to warp space-time from within Microstation and as such, am a little shocked to hear that they are going straight from 3D to 5. And more than a little shocked by what the Fifth Dimension has in store for us all because it seems, from the Graphisoft press release, that the Fifth dimension is none other than … wait for it … Cost Management/Cash Flow Forecasting! Gosh!

Really? Length, Breadth, Height, Time, Cash Flow Forecasting…

I guess it makes sense.