The full span a building exists across: brief and feasibility, design, construction, handover, operation - typically the longest phase by far - and eventually renovation, retrofit, or demolition. BIM's whole value proposition rests on this timeline: information created cheaply during design (changing a wall is trivial on screen) becomes exponentially more expensive to create or correct the later in the lifecycle you leave it, which is exactly why front-loading data quality is worth the extra effort.

The dimension stack (3D through 10D) essentially maps onto this lifecycle in order - geometry, time, and cost during delivery, then energy, facility management, and safety data carrying the project through decades of operation afterward.