Circular Industrialized Construction: A Perspective Through Design for Manufacturing, Assembly, and Disassembly

Improving resource efficiency by reducing waste and process inefficiencies across the building life cycle is essential for advancing sustainability in the built environment. Circular and industrialized construction offer complementary strategies to meet this challenge. While Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) enhances constructability, standardization, and productivity in early project phases, Design for Disassembly (DfD) facilitates material recovery and adaptability at end-of-life. Despite their synergies, their integrated application remains underexplored. This study proposes a unified framework—Design for Manufacturing, Assembly, and Disassembly (DfMAD)—to align value creation and value retention strategies across the life cycle. A systematic literature review of 102 articles, following PRISMA guidelines, combined bibliometric and thematic analysis to identify key principles, benefits, barriers, and enablers of DfMA and DfD. Cross-mapping these findings revealed conceptual overlaps and distinctions and informed the synthesis of core DfMAD attributes. The resulting framework offers a life cycle-oriented approach that supports product-based delivery, traceability, and circular design strategies. By promoting shared logic across disciplines and project phases, DfMAD provides a foundation for operationalizing circularity in industrialized construction, contributing both theoretical and practical guidance for advancing resource-efficient, adaptable, and disassemblable building systems.