From Algorithmic Intent to Accountable Assembly: A Computational Delivery Framework for Digital Architecture

¹ Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Saint Joseph, Macau, China
² Faculty of Business, City University of Macau, Macau, China

^* Corresponding author: jingzhao@cityu.edu.mo

Abstract

Parametric design has transformed architectural authorship from form-making to the orchestration of generative systems governed by performance, structure, and spatial logic. Yet its cultural promise often stalls at the threshold of fabrication and building delivery, where institutional, material, and lifecycle demands remain unresolved. This paper proposes a process-based framework—the Computational Delivery Framework (CDF)—to trace how design intent is encoded, materialized, and validated across the full arc of digital architecture. We first analyze three modes of intent encoding: form-finding strategies, multi-objective optimization, and human–computer co-agency. We then examine how subtractive, additive, and robotic-hybrid fabrication workflows negotiate this intent under real-world constraints of assembly, tolerance, and material behavior. Finally, we address the institutional and technical barriers that limit translation into building-scale delivery, and explore façade and roof systems as performance testbeds where architectural ideas confront regulation, durability, and operational viability. The contribution is a three-phase delivery model that clarifies the tensions between design freedom, fabrication logic, and institutional accountability. We conclude with an agenda for evidence-based digital architecture—where generative complexity is evaluated not by novelty alone, but by its capacity to produce certifiable, maintainable, and insurable systems.