A Finnish huussi, or composting toilet, was built inside the Nordic country’s pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale to critically explore the world’s unsustainable approach to sanitation.

Proclaiming the ‘death of the flush toilet as we know it’, the stand – branded Huussi – Envisioning the Future History of Hygiene – was designed by The Dry Collectivea team of architects, designers and artists, curated by her Arja Renell.

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In the architectural structure designed by famed Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, the Scandinavian country begins the presentation with a purported archaeological dig of a typical cistern toilet – responsible for 30% of domestic water use in developed economies – symbolically banishing it to the distant past.

“We cannot live on a planet where billions of people use rapidly dwindling freshwater resources to excrete themselves,” said Arja Renell.

“It is necessary to change the whole system. A change will come as we begin to see our excrement as a valuable resource and move into a state where we treat it as such,” he added.

Huussi is accompanied by a fictional documentary set in 2043 that highlights the “absurdity” of our current attitude towards hygiene and excrement and other videos that provide information on alternative solutions.

“We want to share the domestic life and usability of the Finnish huussi to inspire a dialogue about what is possible. The Huussi (booth) inspires and invites all professionals to start looking for alternative solutions that could better serve the world we live in today,” emphasized the curator.