I’ve been to Venice a few times, but never once considered consuming the murky canal water in any form. So, I was shocked to read that the design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro is celebrating the Venice Biennale Architecture 2025 by using the canal water to brew coffee.

They created a fascinating filtration system, as Matthew Burgos writes in designboom:

“The hybrid eco-machine filters the sludge from the canals and removes toxins from the water before using it to make espressos.

After the filtration process, the machine divides the water into two separate but connected streams. In the first path, the water goes through an artificial wetland with salt-tolerant plants and good bacteria. These work their science to clean the water naturally, all the while keeping the minerals in them. As for the second path, it’s where reverse osmosis and UV light treatment take place. The former filters the canal water to remove salt and tiny particles from it. The latter uses UV rays to kill germs in the water. Once the process is over, the water is purified. It is ready then to be turned into coffee made from the city’s canals, served only at the Venice Biennale Architecture 2025.”