Generative design as an integrated value delivery tool

Delivering value to the client is a core principle of Lean Construction. However, its realization during the design stage remains challenging due to fragmented stakeholder perceptions, sequential workflows, and strict time constraints. Even with the adoption of integration-oriented methodologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), design processes in construction projects often follow discipline-based, waterfall logics that limit early integration and value validation. Generative design is a design approach that systematically produces multiple design alternatives that satisfy defined project objectives. This study examines how generative design contributes to the integration of value across multiple stakeholders during the design stage of construction projects. Using a qualitative inductive approach, semi-structured interviews with design and construction professionals were analyzed using the Gioia methodology. The findings indicate that time acts as a structural constraint that reinforces sequential workflows, restricts design exploration, and progressively degrades design quality and value delivery. Value emerges as a multidimensional and relational construct shaped by a network of stakeholder interpretations. The study positions generative design as a mechanism that enables early integration of value networks through the simultaneous evaluation of multiple alternatives using quantifiable criteria, thereby supporting more integrated value delivery consistent with Lean principles.