The Pavilion of Finland's dry-toilet centre piece from last year's exhibition is now in operation in Venice

The curator of the Huussi – Imagining the future history of sanitation exihibition, Arja Renell, and her team, The Dry Collective, considered it essential from the very beginning of the exhibition's planning that the dry-toilet displayed in the Finnish Pavilion be more than just an installation: it should be fully functional and ready to use. The exhibition team hoped to find a local use for the composting toilet after the end of the Biennale.

Barbara Motta, the team's Italian member, found a Venetian residents' association, Associazione Veras, that in recent years has started allotment gardening on the island of Le Vignole, east of the Venice main island. The association was enthusiastic about the "huussi", as the garden lacked proper sanitation and the rich compost soil could be put to good use.

Renell and her team designed a modern outhouse that was not only architecturally interesting but also dismountable and portable: prefabricated parts made from CLT leftover pieces are attached together with wooden pegs. For post-biennial use, a pre-designed door and a roof were built from CLT panels which were originally used as backing boards for the exhibition.

After the exhibition closed,  the "huussi" was dismantled to await transport to Le Vignole, where it has now been reassembled. Archinfo commissioned the installation, which ReBiennale, a local circular economy company, carried out.

A video filmed by Associazione Veras shows the "huussi" in its current use and location. Dirt from the storage period has not yet been cleaned, and the finishing works are yet to be carried out.

More information can be found from Associazione Veras's Facebook and Instagram pages.