Computer-Integrated Planning of Construction Engineering Projects(1998)
Rafael Sacks (born 7 July 1962) is an Israeli civil engineer whose research links building information modelling (BIM) with lean construction and, more recently, with digital-twin construction. He is a full professor in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, and since 2020 has headed the Israel National Building Research Institute.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Sacks was born in Johannesburg and moved to Israel in 1984.[4] He earned a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (1983), an SM in Structural Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1985) and a DSc in Construction Management from the Technion (1998).[5]
Career
After three years in practice and service in the Israel Defense Forces construction unit, Sacks joined Shacham Computerized Engineering Ltd. (1989–1994).[4]
He began studies toward a doctorate at the Technion in 1994, completing in 1997. Before joining the Technion as a tenure track faculty member in 2000, he worked in construction management of residential buildings.
From 2001 to 2003 he was a research scientist under the direction of Prof. Charles Eastman at Georgia Tech. He became a full professor in 2018 and has held visiting posts at the University of Reading, UK, Curtin University in Perth, Australia and at the University of Cambridge, UK.[1][5] In 2020 he was appointed head of the Israel National Building Research Institute.[6]
Research
Sacks’ work explores how BIM can support production-system design, safety and real-time control on construction sites.[1] He served as scientific director of the EU Horizon-2020 ‘‘BIM2TWIN’’ project, which developed a platform for digital-twin construction.[7] He is lead author of the BIM Handbook, now in its fourth edition (2025),[8]Building Lean, Building BIM (2018)[9] and Twin Systems: Digital Twins of the Built Environment (2024).[10]
Honours and awards
Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize - American Society of Civil Engineers (2016)[11]
Thorpe Medal - European Council on Computing in Construction (2023)[12]
Selected works
Sacks R, G. Lee, L. Burdi & M. Bolpagni, BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Designers, Engineers, Contractors, and Facility Managers (4th ed., Wiley, 2025). ISBN 978-1394222223.[8]
Sacks, R., Koskela, L., Dave, B. A., & Owen, R. (2010). Interaction of lean and building information modeling in construction. Journal of construction engineering and management, 136(9), 968-980.[13]
Sacks, R., Perlman, A., & Barak, R. (2013). Construction safety training using immersive virtual reality. Construction management and economics, 31(9), 1005-1017.[14]
