Tamales, bourbon, soda, muffins, tortillas, animal feed, fructose syrup, and diesel fuel. Corn is the second largest crop cultivated on Earth, yet its potential extends far beyond the pantry or the fuel tank. 

After harvest, large quantities of agricultural residues known as “corn stover”—including the stalks, leaves, husks, and tassels—remain in the field. Often treated as waste or low-quality livestock feed, these by-products are an underutilized biological resource with significant potential for the biobased building materials industry.

Corncob (CC), a primary by-product of the corn industry, has shown promise as a sustainable and versatile building material. It can serve as thermal and acoustic insulation, soil stabilizer, filler and aggregate, and as an ingredient in particleboard, fiberboard and mycocomposites. When processed into fly ash, it can replace 5–30% of cement by weight. In traditional Portuguese “tabique” construction, corncobs have been used as wall fill, with properties similar to those of conventional insulation materials such as extruded polystyrene (XPS).

Fibers from corn husks and stalks are also being studied for their lignocellulosic properties. These fibers can be used to make high-performance biomaterials that replace non-biodegradable, petrochemical-based products. Using these fibers in technical applications represents a pathway towards a circular economy, reducing the harmful environmental impacts of waste while sequestering carbon within building materials.

Corn’s scientific name, Zea mays, draws from the Taino word “mahiz” meaning the “Bringer of Life”. Indigenous names for maize reflect its importance as a source of life and sustenance. For the Mayan people, this relationship is so foundational that their creation stories describe the first humans being formed from maize dough. 

Join us for a conversation with plant geneticists, material researchers, and innovative architects as we reframe our relationship with this ancient, revered plant and its descendants. We will explore how the vast “by-products” from agricultural sector can represent a critical opportunity  to serve  as new feedstocks for design, architecture, and construction. 

This event is part of an ongoing series co-hosted by Healthy Materials Lab and The Architectural League of New York that investigates the architectural possibilities of plant- and earth-based materials.

Registration link coming soon.  

Recordings from past events in this series are available here: Events on Demand. 

Photograph taken in Bolivar, Colombia, courtesy of Frank Merino