Associate Professor Duncan W. Maxwell is the Director of the Future Building Initiative at Monash University. He is also the Monash University Research Program Lead for Building 4.0 CRC, coordinating Monash's five-faculty reserach contribution. In addition, he is a Registered Architect with award-winning practice experience.

His research explores industrialised building — specifically the role that design plays in government and industry efforts to create new construction practices and develop the required skills. Industrialised building focuses on the systematisation of construction practice from design to deliver, introducing approaches from manufacturing. Duncan's primary research focus is on the use of platform-based approaches to construction that help building delivery practices overcome the problems associated with the temporary nature of traditional construction's project-basis. In the context of the wider architectural discipline, his research focuses on the articulation and development of ‘kit of parts’ and componentised design strategies for buildings, the use of modular design principles, and design for manufacture and assembly — all with a focus on improved design outcomes and a democratisation of the building design process. More broadly, Duncan takes an active and strategic interest in reserach conducted by the wider Future Building Initiative team he leads, exploring the emerging digital and machine learning tools and decarbonisation impact that is driven by systematic industrialisation of building.

Duncan holds a PhD from the University of Sydney (2018), where he conducted his research within the Innovation in Applied Design Lab at the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning. His PhD thesis, "The Case for Design-Value in Industrialised House Building Platforms: Product to Ecosystem", investigated industrialised house building product platforms that have been developed by Swedish companies to integrate design and off-site manufacture. The thesis made the case for greater design emhpasis in these product platforms to generate new forms of value, and considered how this design-value could lead product platforms to become platform ecosystem business models. In addition to his PhD, Duncan holds an MArch from the University of Tasmania (2008), and BSc from Robert Gordon University (2006).

Duncan provides strategic input to the Monash Architecture curriculum, and teaches "Industrialised Building" and "Building Prefab", courses that introduce students to the concepts and thinking that underpin the future of construction, and regularly provides guest lectures and keynote talks at industry and community events.