Finland Models Sustainable Toilets That Use Less Water, Create Compost

The Huussi toilet in Finland's pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale disposes of waste without any water.

Designs at the Venice Architecture Biennale are rethinking the modern flush for a water-strained world.

Feargus O'Sullivan

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Visitors to the Finnish pavilion at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale are greeted with an unlikely sight at a festival typically devoted to the avant-garde and newfangled: A no-flush outhouse toilet.

While the structure, known as a Huussi, may seem a bit primitive to some, it's long been a popular toilet design in rural parts of Finland because it requires no connection to water supplies: It processes waste not by flushing it away, but by converting it to compost in a hay-filled container. It's a design that's making a comeback because it saves water and recirculates waste back into the ecosystem — both essential goals in a world where many areas are drying out thanks to climate change, and where as much as 30% of urban water supplies are still used to flush human waste. Our modern toilet practices are likely to become unsustainable within the next few decades; by 2050 it's estimated that up to five billion people could be facing water shortages.