Maguey Remains: Transforming Mezcal By-Products for Maguey Architecture
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Gonzalez-bgonz-march-arch-2026-thesis.pdf
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Author(s)
Gonzalez, Bernardo
Advisor(s)
Kennedy, Sheila
Date Issued
February 2026
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The Maguey plant holds spiritual value to many indigenous communities within Mexico. It is traditionally used for medicine, food and clothing; and it provides mezcal, a sacred drink believed to link humanity to the heavens. Mezcal has historically been a family craft, produced from the heart of the maguey, it follows ancestral techniques and methods preserved and shared orally across generations of mezcaleros (mezcal producers). Mezcal was first mass produced in the 17th century by Spanish colonizers. In fact, over the last three decades, mezcal production has become heavily industrialized by foreign investors across eight states within Mexico. Oaxaca, the state with the largest production of mezcal, accounts for ninety percent of mezcal production. The rising global demand for mezcal is producing an increase in palenques, or mezcal distilleries, and is reducing the use of Maguey to the extractive production of mezcal. Although this demand supports the region’s economy, it leads to mono-agricultural plantations of Espadin Maguey, and industrialized extraction methods that result in excessive production of maguey by-products, considered as waste. This thesis recognizes the problems of mezcal production and the local economies it supports. It explores the diverse material properties of the Maguey plant and investigates a re-utilization and transformation of the by-products of mezcal production to create a ‘Maguey architecture’ that engages the Maguey plant to its full extent. The thesis explores systems of Maguey construction at a domestic scale using mezcal waste material and proposes a community workshop, at a collective scale, to support lost traditions, rainwater harvesting, and to amplify local economies that revolve around Maguey. The thesis preserves Maguey as a sacred resource, enabling locals in Oaxaca to create ‘Maguey architecture’.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
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