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NewsvinePaul Teicholz, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, became the first academic to receive the Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology in a ceremony held on campus earlier this month.
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“I had no knowledge of this prize and was absolutely delighted to have my work at Stanford recognized,” said Teicholz, who works at the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE). “It was a great validation of the CIFE research program and the impact that it has had on industry.”
The Center was founded in 1988.
“I was working in private industry for a large contractor and had realized that new approaches were needed for developing, using and sharing information in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction industry,” Teicholz said in an email to The Daily. “I wrote to Stanford describing my ideas and asking if it would be possible to set up a research program for this purpose.”
Nearly twenty years later, CIFE is still going strong and, according to Teicholz, staying true to his original intentions.
“The goal is to find new ways to use computers to improve the quality of buildings and the methods used for their design, construction and use,” he said.
Teicholz, who many in the field consider the father of building information modeling (BIM) technology, described the construction industry as on the edge of extraordinary change.
Throughout his 40-year career, he has pursued solutions to key issues in the construction industry, concentrating much of his attention on integrating architecture and construction.
The Turner Prize — which was first presented in 2002 — has become one of the most prestigious awards in the construction industry. The prize, which also carries a $25,000 cash reward, celebrates invention, ground-breaking methodology or outstanding leadership by a person or team in construction technology.
Teicholz expressed hope that he would continue to be on the edge of innovation in the construction industry.
“I am working on a book,” he said, “about BIM with three other authors that we hope will be published this year.”