Visualisation of building maintenance through time

The use of 3D visualisation has long been established as a major breakthrough in closing the gap between a client's need and what is perceived by the designer to be the need of the client. Nevertheless, construction clients are increasingly demanding a greater participation in the process of design generation. This has been a welcome move by all parties, as less variation means less conflict. In spite of its vast practical uses, in the field of visualisation, the ability to travel through time is an area that has been neglected by the academics and the developers alike. The paper highlights the benefits of the incorporation of the 4/sup th/ dimension-the time dimension-into 3D visualisation. Building maintenance is used as a case study to demonstrate the practicality of the 4D visualisation and its representation through VRML. To this end, the focus is on the lighting, paints and carpets. However, the concept can easily be expanded to encompass the causes and effects of all events on all building components.