The laboratory's mission stems from a deeply personal transformation that occurred during Esper's experience of motherhood and the isolation of the pandemic. Drawing inspiration from Indigenous knowledge systems that emphasize reciprocity with the Earth, Esper began investigating everyday waste as a foundation for sustainable construction. Her journey started with an intimate experiment involving her own cut hair, which she bonded using white glue, establishing a radically handmade and personal approach to material innovation.
Since its inception, the Matter Matters Lab has focused on transforming organic waste into low-impact architectural materials, challenging the extractive models that dominate contemporary construction. The lab's philosophy is rooted in Indigenous wisdom that approaches Earth's resources with reverence and builds with reciprocity in mind. "This way of relating to material by becoming aware of what the earth offers, and building in reciprocity continues to guide my work," Esper explains.
The urgency behind this work cannot be overstated. Most contemporary building materials are non-renewable and carbon-intensive, often outliving their usefulness and contributing to overflowing landfills. The Matter Matters Lab has embraced the challenge of reimagining the entire architectural supply chain, moving away from extraction toward regeneration.
The laboratory's most widely recognized experiment, the Avocado Bricks project, emerged from a simple observation in Esper's kitchen. Witnessing large quantities of avocado seeds being discarded raised a practical question: how can dense, organic, and abundant material that is typically ignored be repurposed for construction? This inquiry evolved into a broader provocation: Can we build with food waste?
The focus on food waste is particularly relevant given that approximately one-third of all food produced globally is wasted, and nearly half of all harvested fruit is discarded before consumption due to fragility and short shelf life. "Today, the research is really focused on crafting from a second harvest and honoring fruit matter beyond consumption—transforming seeds into bricks, shells into panels, exocarps into powders, fibers into sheets and more," Esper notes.
In border regions like El Paso, Texas, where the lab is based, the scale of food waste becomes starkly visible. "A single Mexican restaurant can go through eight 84-count avocado boxes in a single weekend," Catherine observes. Each avocado seed weighs between 10 and 60 grams and is typically sent to landfills where anaerobic decomposition releases methane, a greenhouse gas with global warming potential up to 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
To address this environmental challenge, the lab partnered with Taconeta, a local restaurant, which began collecting discarded avocado seeds for processing. The laboratory employs intentionally low-tech methods that prioritize accessibility and sustainability. The collected seeds undergo a simple but effective preparation process: they are thoroughly washed, sun-dried for 24 hours, and manually grated using common kitchen tools until they achieve a fine, consistent particle size.
The nutritional composition of avocado seeds proves ideal for construction applications. Rich in starch content (approximately 18 percent), particularly amylopectin, these particles naturally promote cohesion and moldability when processed. The grated seed material is then mixed with natural binders such as plant starches, gums, or biodegradable gel solutions before being compacted in molds—some of which are 3D-printed—to form cohesive bricks with distinctive visible textures and lightweight internal structures.
The resulting biocomposite blocks demonstrate impressive material properties with reduced density ranging between 0.8 and 0.9 grams per cubic centimeter. While comprehensive compression test results remain under review, related studies utilizing starches and avocado seed fibers indicate moderate mechanical strength, excellent cohesion, and thermal capacity compatible with insulation applications. The bricks are suitable for non-structural applications including interior partitions, cladding panels, furniture components, and modular systems.
Beyond their physical properties, the avocado bricks demonstrate several environmental advantages. They exhibit low flammability characteristics and positive moisture absorption behavior, thanks to naturally occurring phenolic compounds and flavonoids found in the seed material. The production process itself represents a significant departure from traditional manufacturing methods, utilizing local organic waste, employing low-energy processes, relying exclusively on biodegradable ingredients, and requiring no industrial machinery or energy-intensive kilns.
This innovative model offers a viable alternative to extractive construction systems, promoting a circular use cycle that regenerates rather than depletes natural resources. The laboratory continues expanding its research, exploring hybrid models that incorporate PLA-printed modular frames and developing applications for cladding, acoustic panels, and furniture components using the same circular design principles.
"This approach redefines the possibilities of material life cycles, moving away from extractive supply chains toward a model of reuse and regeneration," Esper emphasizes. The work represents more than technological innovation; it embodies a fundamental shift in architectural philosophy.
At the core of the Matter Matters Lab methodology lies a transformative change in mindset. Architecture is reconceived not as permanent infrastructure but as transitional gesture that works in harmony with natural cycles. "Few building materials used in contemporary construction are capable of naturally decomposing, meaning architecture often leaves a permanent scar on the planet," Esper observes. The laboratory's mission directly challenges this paradigm: "to manifest an architecture that does not extract from the earth, but rather returns back to the soil, decomposes, and restores."
This philosophical approach resonates deeply with Indigenous cosmologies that view buildings not as conquests over nature but as integral parts of natural cycles. Architecture becomes something far greater than mere construction. "The fruit tree gives to us and we give back to the earth—architecture not as a product, but as offering," Esper explains.
While the laboratory's innovations hold tremendous promise, significant challenges remain in scaling and refining the technology. Structural performance optimization, controlled biodegradability, and scalability represent ongoing areas of development. However, the future trajectory appears promising as the team explores advanced applications including 3D printing techniques using avocado seed pastes and experimentation with other food residues such as pistachio shells, mesquite pods, and even spent lemons from cocktail preparation.
The Matter Matters Lab's vision extends beyond individual material innovations to encompass construction systems designed to decompose and return nutrients to soil. This approach invites fundamental reconsideration of how buildings exist within natural cycles—how they live, how they die, and what legacy they leave behind. Rather than generating waste, the laboratory identifies potential in discarded materials, finding seeds of regenerative architecture that responds to place and operates through principles of care and reciprocity.
This groundbreaking work contributes to expanding conversations around experimental materials, bio-based construction, and circular economy principles in architecture. Like other bio-inspired approaches including mycelium panels, earth blocks, and low-carbon concrete alternatives, avocado bricks raise a provocative question: what if buildings could leave behind not ruins but fertile soil?
Operating at the intersection of culture, food systems, and environmental care, the Matter Matters Lab demonstrates that construction can function as an act of return rather than extraction. Their work challenges fundamental assumptions about permanence in architecture while offering practical pathways toward regenerative building practices that honor both material resources and the communities that generate them. Through this innovative approach, discarded avocado seeds become not waste but opportunity—raw material for an architecture that gives back to the earth that sustains it.
