FIVE-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN

Abstract

The method architectural and engineering design and construction apply for two-dimensional representation is geometry, the axioms of which were first outlined by Euclid. The proposition of his 5^th postulate started on its course a problem of geometry that provoked perhaps the most mistaken demonstrations and that remained unresolved for two thousand years, the question if the axiom of parallels can be proved. The quest for the solution of this problem led Bolyai János to revolutionary conclusions in the wake of which he began to lay the foundations of a new (absolute) geometry in the system of which planes bend and become hyperbolic. It was Einstein´s relativity theory that eventually created the possibility of the recognition of new dimensions by discussing space as well as a curved, non-linear entity. Architectural creations exist in what Kant termed the dual form of intuition, that is in time and space, thus in four dimensions. In this context the fourth dimension is to be interpreted as the current time that may be actively experienced. On the other hand there has been a dichotomy in the concept of time since ancient times. The introduction of a time-concept into the activity of the architectural designer that comprises duration, the passage of time and cyclic time opens up a so-far unknown new direction, a fifth dimension, the perfection of which may be achieved through the comprehension and the synthesis of the coded messages of building diagnostics and building reconstruction.