Version 1 July 2016

The Finland Pavilion for La Biennale Di Venezia examines the architecture of water in today's climate crisis.

Piped water may be the greatest convenience ever known, but Lloyd Alter argues that our sewage systems and bathrooms are a disaster

Flushing the water closet is handy, but it wreaks ecological havoc, deprives agricultural soils of essential nutrients and makes food production dependent on fossil fuels. For 4,000 years, human excrements and urine were considered extremely valuable trade products in China, Korea and Japan. Human dung was transported over specially designed canal networks by boats. Thanks to the application of human "waste" products as fertilizers to agricultural fields, the East managed to feed a large population without polluting their drinking water. Meanwhile, cities in medieval Europe turned into open sewers. The concept was modernized in late 19th century Holland, with Charles Liernur's sophisticated vacuum sewer system. © Illustrations in red & black: Diego Marmolejo for low-tech magazine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The innocent...