Vivre avec / Living with

Working with What Is Already There Rather Than Starting from Scratch. Rehabilitate Rather Than Demolish: adaptive reuse as a practice based on the principles of regeneration, circularity, and transition. Finding value in what was once considered useless or obsolete. Reusing outdated buildings, infrastructures, and ruins by giving them a new purpose. Reshaping the environment to allow habitats to be protected by natural regulations during dangerous climate events. Humanizing infrastructures. Protecting and enhancing existing ecosystems, including those that have spontaneously developed on industrial wastelands and other urbanized territories. 

Exhibited Projects:

• REGENERATION OF THE TERKEN SITE, ÉCOQUARTIER DE L’UNION

Hérault Arnod Architectures / Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Wattrelos / Client: Réalités Promotion, LMH, Caisse des Dépôts

• LA CANOPÉE: RENOVATION OF THE RENAUD-BARRAULT LIBRARY

Jakob+MacFarlane Architects / Avignon / Client: City of Avignon

• BAUMKIRCHEN LANDSCAPE PARK

mahl gebhard konzepte / Munich, Germany / Client: Baumkirchen Mitte GmbH & Co. KG

• ATLAS OF UKRAINIAN SCHOOLS DURING THE WAR

Martin Duplantier Architects, Andrii Shtendera, Ustym Khudziak, Iryna Herts, Iryna Dovgopoliuk, Vitaliy Tomak / Ukraine

• POUCHET SOCIAL CENTER

MCBAD Architecture & Urban Design / Paris / Client: Paris Métropole & Aménagement for the City of Paris

• PROJECT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF TEN HOUSES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SHÍSHÁLH NATION

Canada / Client: Renewal Development

• TOM LEE PARK

Studio Gang / Memphis, Tennessee, USA / Client: Memphis River Parks Partnership 

Revealing the Transformative Potential of a Locally Anchored Approach. Optimizing locally available resources, innovating with what is at hand. Using bio-based, geo-based, or urban-sourced materials from the surrounding environment. Experimenting with materials often considered waste or by-products, transforming them into innovative architectural solutions that highlight their functional, aesthetic, and ecological potential. Supporting the transmission of traditional know-how and strengthening the link between architecture and local culture. Using limited resources intelligently to achieve major impact with modest interventions.

Exhibited Projects:

• LA RUE COMMUNE 

Leonard (VINCI Group's innovation and foresight platform), Richez_Associés, Franck Boutté Consultants / Client: ADEME (Appel à communs)

• LOT8 

Assemble, BC architects & studies & materials, Atelier LUMA, Ostrowski Demuyter Architectes / Arles / Client: Atelier & Fondation LUMA

• DISCOVERY CENTER / LE POTAGER EXTRAORDINAIRE 

Guinée / Potin Architectes / La Roche-sur-Yon / Client: Région Pays de La Loire (2013 and 2014 project) and La Roche-sur-Yon Agglomération (2023 project)

• CHAKI WASI CRAFT CENTER 

La Cabina de la Curiosidad (Marie Combette, Daniel Moreno Flores) / Shalalà, Ecuador / Client: Shalala Community

• QUAI LAWTON COLLINS, FROM POLDER TO AMPHIBIOUS ENVIRONMENTS 

Les Marneurs / Cherbourg / Client: City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin

• MYCOHAB 

redhouse studio / Namibia / Client: MIT 

Restoring, Rebuilding, and Reconciling After Destructive Events, Whether Natural, Human, or Conflict-Related: How can architecture transcend damage to become a vector for healing and transformation while contributing to a future where memory and innovation coexist? Repairing the social fabric while transforming physical spaces. Restoring ecological and social balances. Not merely rehabilitating degraded physical environments, but seeking to transform these places into catalysts for social, economic, and environmental renewal.

Exhibited Projects:

• THE BEIRUT POST-BLAST URBAN OBSERVATORY & GREEN PATH

Beirut Urban Lab / Beirut

• IZYUM STRATEGY. DESIGN CODE. VISION

Martin Duplantier Architects, Andrii Shtendera, Yaroslav Mysyk, Iryna Herts, Daria Ostrikova, Vitaliy Tomashchuk / Ukraine / Client: City of Izyum

• INTEGRATED VISION FOR THE DNIPRO RIVER

Ro3kvit, Greenpeace / Ukraine

• A VISION FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF MARIUPOL

Ro3kvit, MRIIA, Zotov&Co, Big City Lab & Pulpa / Ukraine / Client: Mariupol Reborn (Mariupol City Council)

• TIMENKAR EDUCATIONAL COMPLEX

Salima Naji / High Atlas, Timenkar Plateau / Morocco / Client: Tizi N’Oucheg Development Association

• THE GRAND CENTRAL MARKET OF KINSHASA

THINK TANK architecture / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Client: Sogema (Société de Gestion des Marchés Africains)

• HOME FOR ALL

Toyo Ito, Hideaki Katsura, Kaoru Suehiro, Masashi Sogabe, Toyo Ito & Associates, Office of Kumiko Inui; Sou Fujimoto Architects; Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office, SANAA, Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop, o+h, Klein Dytham architecture, Contemporaries, Tetsuo Kondo Architects, Fumio Uchida, Hideo Nishiyama, Michiko Okano Architects, EIKA studio, PERSIMMON HILLS architects, Kaori Shikichi, Ayaka Matsuda, Kohei Kudo & Associates, Kazuyo Sejima / Tohoku, Kumamoto, and Noto Regions, Japan

Adapting to Climate Hazards and Challenging Environments: Living with vulnerabilities is not about fighting risks, but learning to live with them in order to imagine less vulnerable, robust, and resilient environments. Recognizing the impossibility of completely eliminating vulnerabilities and integrating these constraints into planning allows for coexistence with uncertainties. Proposing flexible, scalable, and contextual solutions that can address immediate needs while anticipating future changes—whether climatic, social, or environmental. Leveraging local materials and traditional know-how, often derived from nature or even disasters themselves, to design suitable and sustainable habitats and infrastructures. Minimizing heavy interventions to preserve existing ecosystems.

Exhibited Projects:

• SAFE PATHWAYS WITHIN THE SPONTANEOUS SETTLEMENT OF MAHABOURINI. INNOVATIVE TOTEM HOUSING

AIR Architectures / Kaweni, Mayotte / Client: Mayor of Mamoudzou, Urban Planning Department & PUCA

• GENÊTS: LIVING ON THE MANCHE COASTLINE IN 2040

Atelier Iris Chervet, Urban Water / Client: CAUE 50 + Department of Manche + Municipality of Genêts

• L’ÉCOVILLAGE DES NOÉS. LE HAMEAU DE L’ANDELLE

Atelier Philippe Madec & associés / Val-de-Reuil / Client: Siloge, Habitat Coopératif de Normandie, City of Val-de-Reuil

• LYCÉE SIMONE VEIL

Corinne Vezzoni et Associés / Marseille / Client: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region (Delegated MOA AREA)

• MATRA NEIGHBORHOOD BEFORE AND DURING THE 2016 FLOOD

Éric Daniel-Lacombe / Romorantin / Client: City of Romorantin-Lanthenay, 3F Centre Val de Loire, Aegide Nexity

• TRÈBES, AFTER THE 2018 FLOOD

Éric Daniel-Lacombe / Trèbes / Client: City of Trèbes

• FRENCH UNIVERSITY IN EGYPT

Jakob+MacFarlane Architects, RMC-Raafat Miller Consulting El-Shorouk / Cairo, Egypt / Client: French University of Egypt, MOHESR, AFD

• FRIENDSHIP CENTRE

Kashef Chowdhury / URBANA / Gaibandha, Bangladesh / Client: NGO Friendship

• ELEVATED VILLAGES, JAMUNA-BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER NETWORK

Kashef Chowdhury / URBANA / Bangladesh / Client: NGO Friendship

• DISCOVER ME A RIVER

ruée / Client: Métropole de Marseille

• STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE VESDRE RIVER BASIN

StudioPaolaViganò / Belgium / Client: Walloon Region

• RESILIENT HOUSING IN MARTINIQUE

tectone architectes urbanistes / Prêcheur / Client: PUCA 

Recognizing Ecosystems as Essential Partners in Architecture and Urban Planning: an architecture in constant dialogue with living ecosystems and shared environments. Opening communities to new relationships with non-humans. Cohabitation and Interdependence: creating spaces where humans, animals, and plants interact beneficially, integrating local ecosystems and adopting solutions that promote coexistence and resource sharing. Restoring degraded landscapes and drawing inspiration from natural mechanisms to design environmentally respectful structures. Integrating nature into buildings by enhancing living elements. Creating projects that become spaces for learning and awareness, where inhabitants actively participate in the management and preservation of ecosystems, reinforcing the connection between local culture and the natural environment. 

Exhibited Projects: 

• ELEPHANT WORLD PROJECT 

Boonserm Premthada (Bangkok Project Studio) / Surin Province, Thailand / Client: Surin Provincial Administrative Organization, Ministry of the Interior, Thailand

• THE GARDENS OF LES VERGERS IN MANDELIEU AFTER THE 2015 AND 2019 FLOODS

Éric Daniel-Lacombe / Mandelieu-la-Napoule / Client: City of Mandelieu-La-Napoule

• ATELIER DES TERRITOIRES “MAKING WATER A RESOURCE FOR DEVELOPMENT”

INterland, Urban Water, Contrepoint / French Guiana / Client: Directorate of Environment, Planning and Housing (DEAL) of French Guiana, Urban Planning and Development Agency of French Guiana (AUDeG), Water Office of French Guiana (OEG)

• SOCIAL HOUSING IN THE AMAZON

Khoury Arquitetura / Brazil / Research Project, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)

• MAKE IT RAIN

Collectif Make It Rain (Quentin Gérard, Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton, Matthieu Brasebin, Guillaume Deman) / Logroño, Spain, and Brussels, Belgium / Client Logroño: Concentrico Festival + Wallonie-Bruxelles Architectures / Client Brussels: Quentin Gérard, Guillaume Deman + CREA.BRUSSELS

• PHARE PONLEU SELPAK

Martin Duplantier Architectes / Battambang, Cambodia / Client: Phare Ponleu Selpak Association

• THE MAHARIN PLAIN

Thibaud Babled Architectures / Anglet / Client: City of Anglet

• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INTECHMER

Titan, Sempervirens / Cherbourg-en-Cotentin / Client: City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin

• FOUNDRY PARK

Triptyque, Duncan Lewis Architectes / Soissons / Client: Greater Soissons Agglomeration

• HOUSE OF THE FOREST

Trung Mai / Ad hoc Practice / Hanoi, Vietnam / Client: Institut français 

Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Co-Design: bringing together experts, residents, and technologies to enrich the creative process. Expanding the circle of intelligence and stakeholders in architectural design to address the complex challenges of the contemporary world. Achieving synergy between human intelligence, the intelligence of nature, and advanced technologies. Combining artificial intelligence with biological mechanisms to optimize natural processes, such as climate regulation or ecosystem restoration. 

Exhibited Projects: 

• BOB (BESPOKE OPEN BUILDING) 

Atelier Pascal Gontier / Floirac / Client: Quartus Résidentiel

• URBAN REGENERATION AND SOIL RESTORATION PROJECT ON A POST-INDUSTRIAL SITE

Jakob+MacFarlane Architects, Silvio d’Ascia Architecture / Auxerre / Client: ESSOR

• ECOLOGICALLY ACTIVE STRUCTURE

Ehsan Baharlou, David Carr, Ji Ma (University of Virginia) / Research project, University of Virginia

• THE NEW TOUR DES POISSONNIERS

l’AUC, Fagart&Fontana, Mosbach Paysagistes / Paris / Client: Paris Habitat OPH, CROUS Paris & Sorbonne University

• RAMBLA CLIMATE-HOUSE

Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation + Miguel Mesa del Castillo / Barcelona, Spain / Client: Victoria Sánchez Muñoz, Antonio Mesa del Castillo Clavel

• EXPERTISE IN THE URBAN PROJECT OF THE ZAC DE LA CONSTANCE

Philippe Rahm architectes / Aix-en-Provence / Client: City of Aix-en-Provence

• GRÜNE ERDE BREATHING HEADQUARTERS

terrain: integral designs, archibrand / Scharnstein, Almtal, Austria / Client: Grüne Erde BeteiligungsgmbH

• SPEEDSTAC

WZMH Architects / Canada and Ukraine 

With the aim of living with the existing, we decided not to abandon the French Pavilion, temporarily closed for restoration and thermal adaptation work. Instead, we are setting up next to it, grafting onto its scaffolding site and extending branches. In an unexploited surface area between the existing pavilion and the canal, the temporary structure we are creating settles lightly, open to others and to nature. 

A central element of this transition, the scaffolding becomes an integral component of the scenographic and sensory experience offered to visitors. It runs alongside the building under renovation, slips beneath the garden trees, and opens up to the neighboring canal, presenting unique situations that illustrate the pavilion’s themes: vulnerabilities, the existing, nature, and living beings. 

To minimize the project's carbon footprint, the scenography is produced locally in Venice, thereby avoiding the transport of models and using a selection of reusable or recyclable materials for a zero-waste operation. All elements of the ephemeral pavilion and the scenography are designed to be repurposed. 

With its structure-infrastructure that uses lightweight, adapted, and reused materials, the project occupies a surface equivalent to the existing Pavilion. The scaffolding will be utilized in its universal language to serve as the starting point for the project and to deploy the exhibition. Thus, the scaffolding used for the restoration of the original Pavilion and that of the temporary Pavilion merge into a single system. 

A study of the structural and geometric grid of the existing Pavilion led to the design of a scaffolding structure with cubic proportions of approximately 2.07m × 2.07m × 0.50m. This universal-type structure will serve as the base for both the temporary Pavilion and the exhibition's scenography. Through its installation in this matrix, it will serve as a means to reconnect with the historical nature of the French Pavilion, while simultaneously giving rise to a new architectural project emerging from this memory. 

The organization of the ephemeral pavilion is developed on two levels: "urban side" and "nature side." Access is provided via a ramp from the Giardini path, where the entrance to the existing Pavilion is located, giving access to the first sequences of the exhibition: Existing, Vulnerabilities, Proximities, and Damaged. The visitor's journey is then extended through two descending passages, through the uncovered undergrowth, towards the canal to discover a second sequence hosting sections dedicated to Nature and United Intelligences. 

Having decided to integrate the restoration of the existing building into the project, the curators wanted this to become the first part of our scenographic content proposal. The starting point and the first theme will therefore be to work with the existing structure, using the building itself as an in-situ exhibition piece. From there, the visitor will discover six major themes by entering the temporary space and walking around the existing building (counterclockwise). 

Living with... the existing  Living with... proximities  Living with... the damaged  Living with... vulnerabilities  Living with... nature and the living  Living with... united intelligences 

The use of scaffolding as the main structure offers unlimited possibilities for supporting rigid panels, soft fabric panels, etc., as well as for guardrails and digital supports. 

The scenographic intention is to create perfect coherence between structure and context, the real and the virtual, direct experience and representation. By promoting their interaction, a powerful dialogue is orchestrated between the sensory experience and the public's imagination. The goal is to offer an experience that is both emotionally charged and conducive to reflection, where one cannot convey its message without the other. 

The exhibition's graphic design mirrors the scenography: lively and dynamic, playful and serious. The texts, composed in three different colors, allow for clear language differentiation while remaining highly readable. The typography chosen for the signage and, more generally, for the visual identity of the exhibition, is a contemporary French creation. Its angular and geometric design echoes the structure of the scaffolding. Thus, the graphic design and the scenography respond to each other and form a coherent whole. 

To minimize the project's carbon footprint, the architects propose a scenography created in situ in Venice, thus avoiding the transportation of models. They also suggest using a selection of reusable or recyclable materials, ensuring a zero-waste approach. All elements of the ephemeral pavilion and the scenography are designed to be reusable. 

• The installation of the construction site, the main component of the ephemeral pavilion, including scaffolding, fabrics, and nets, are rented locally in Venice for the duration of the Biennale.
• The flooring consists of standard 1MX1M grating panels that are loaned and will be returned to the distribution circuit.
• The printing support surfaces are made of acetylated wood fiber panels without formaldehyde. It is planned that the printed panels will be reused during resonances and itinerancies.
• The printed elements will be silkscreened with bio-based ink and affixed to the panels.
• The audiovisual equipment will be reused for the resonances and itinerancies of the exhibition.
• Lighting and security devices are second-hand, borrowed, and then returned to their manufacturer to be reintroduced into the distribution circuit. 

The curators propose to open a research theme to architecture school students, focusing on a geographical (morphological-ecological-sociological) situation subjected to a major risk type, linked to a hazard (stationary rain, flooding, submersion, torrential lava or avalanche, fire, ground collapse, conflict due to water scarcity, heatwaves, tropical storms, strong winds or hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.) occurring in conditions close to the location of the architecture school: fires and strong winds in California, floods and submersion in France, heatwaves or salinization in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, destruction in Ukraine, etc. 

The objective of this research is to critically examine collective risk mitigation strategies, to evaluate the role of architectural design in these approaches, and to identify the paths of architectural renewal they reveal, as well as their influence on residents' behaviors towards nature. 

This reflection can be applied to various contexts: flooding of river valleys, submersion of estuaries, vulnerability of urban areas built on reclaimed land, urbanization of Mediterranean arc valleys, risks related to landslides in mountainous areas, or forest fires threatening peri-urban areas, villages, or recreational spaces. 

Learn more about the 8 schools 

The participation of architecture in the ecological transition encompasses three main dimensions: the adaptation of materials and construction methods to a quasi-circular economy; the design and construction of buildings that ensure the protection of their inhabitants against exposure to natural risks; and a contribution to the development of a culture of care for nature among residents. 

The curators propose to open a research theme to architecture school students, focusing on a geographical (morphological-ecological-sociological) situation subjected to a major risk type, linked to a hazard (stationary rain, flooding, submersion, torrential lava or avalanche, fire, ground collapse, conflict due to water scarcity, heatwaves, tropical storms, strong winds or hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.) occurring in conditions close to the location of the architecture school: fires and strong winds in California, floods and submersion in France, heatwaves or salinization in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, destruction in Ukraine, etc. 

The objective of this research is to critically examine collective risk mitigation strategies, to evaluate the role of architectural design in these approaches, and to identify the paths of architectural renewal they reveal, as well as their influence on residents' behaviors towards nature. 

This reflection can be applied to various contexts: flooding of river valleys, submersion of estuaries, vulnerability of urban areas built on reclaimed land, urbanization of Mediterranean arc valleys, risks related to landslides in mountainous areas, or forest fires threatening peri-urban areas, villages, or recreational spaces. 

Dates and détails of the conférences 

A catalog published by Flammarion accompanies the exhibition "Vivre avec / Living with," showcasing 50 architectural projects, either completed or in progress, organized into six chapters corresponding to the themes addressed in the exhibition. 

The editorial direction is co-led by Flammarion and the winning architects of the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale: Dominique Jakob, Brendan MacFarlane, Martin Duplantier, and Éric Daniel-Lacombe, who introduce the work. Contributions by Chris Younès, Grégory Quenet, and Michel Lussault, respectively a philosopher, a historian, and a geographer, provide additional insights to the publication. Each of the six sections is introduced by a text from an author: Anna Yudina, Pascal Amphoux, Marie-Ange Brayer, Isabelle Thomas, Magali Reghezza, Matthieu Duperrex, and Michel Lussault. The sections then present architectural projects selected following a call for proposals launched by the editorial directors around their themes, alongside one or two projects from each of the laureate architects of the French Pavilion. Illustrated entries describe concrete projects, either completed or in development. 

The graphic design of the book was conceived by Léo Grunstein, who also developed the visual identity and signage for the exhibition. The letters of the title, arranged on a fine white grid, echo the scaffolding structure used for the scenography. Inside the book, the architectural projects unfold in a front-and-back layout, alternating between French and English texts. The modular grid layout for the images allows for great flexibility in their arrangement. The book, measuring 20 × 25 cm, with 296 pages, is bilingual (French/English) and made from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified materials, ensuring responsible forest management. 

In addition to its role as the operator of the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the institut français is committed to disseminating and promoting the winning project both in France and internationally through resonance actions, deployed before, during, and after the Venetian presentation. The objective is to raise awareness of the project's stakes and its key contributors beyond the Pavilion, to amplify its visibility. Fundamentally based on partnerships, these resonances are built in dialogue with the curatorial team and various partners in France and abroad, notably relying on the French cultural network worldwide. As part of the "Vivre avec / Living with" project, the diversity of the initiatives presented, including the Atlas of Hazards involving seven architecture schools across the globe, shapes a constellation of resonance extending from the United States to Egypt, via France. 

Starting in February 2026, the FRAC Centre-Val de Loire will host a new presentation of the "Living with…" project, accompanied by conferences and masterclasses organized for professionals and higher education institutions in art, design, architecture, and landscape, both in France and internationally. 

Upstream, the FRAC will organize, on a local and regional scale, a "resonance of the resonance," with the design and dissemination of exhibitions created from its collections and in echo with the intentions of the "Living with" project. This will also include residencies, participatory workshops conducted for the general public, as well as schools and community organizations, which will also be invited to participate. 

Learn more 

Dominique Jakob, born in France, graduated from the Paris-Villemin School of Architecture (1991) and holds a degree in Art History from the University of Paris I. Dominique has taught at the Paris-Villemin and Paris-Malaquais Schools of Architecture, the École Spéciale d’Architecture, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. She was named Architect of the Year 2019 by the Association for Research on the City and Habitat (ARVHA). She has been a full member of the French Academy of Architecture since 2016. 

Brendan MacFarlane, born in New Zealand, graduated from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles (1984) and holds a Master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Boston (1990). He has taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, the Architectural Association in London, the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, Georgia Tech, the Southern California Institute of Architecture, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. 

Jakob+MacFarlane 

In 1998, Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane founded Jakob+MacFarlane Architectes, an architecture, urban planning, design, and research agency focused on the development of innovative and socially engaged architecture designed to address the environmental and societal challenges of the 21st century. Jakob+MacFarlane were the initiators of the French section of Architects Declare (Les Architectes Français se mobilisent face à l’Urgence Climatique et Écologique); their projects Odyssée Pleyel - Energy Plug in France and Living Landscape in Iceland were winners of the international competition C40 Reinventing Cities, showcasing architecture's ability to support the transition towards a world where humans and nature coexist harmoniously. 

They exhibit their work internationally, participating in the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism and COP26 in Glasgow among recent examples. The agency was also part of the French selection at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002, as well as the international selection in 2004 and 2008 (with the installation "Conflicts" in the National Pavilion). 

Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture 

Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs 

The gradual depletion of resources and climate change disruptions are impacting the way we live and inhabit spaces. It is our collective responsibility to mobilize across all fields of public action, notably through diplomacy, and to strengthen the bond between humans and nature to address the new challenges facing our planet.

As we celebrate this year the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change—a major milestone in the fight against climate change—France continues to pursue a resolute and committed international cooperation policy aimed at supporting initiatives for sustainable housing and resilient architectural solutions. It promotes the unique expertise it holds in these domains. The Architecture Biennale thus offers architects an exceptional opportunity to be cultural ambassadors of a vision that is both ethical and aesthetic, ensuring our world remains livable.

The 19th edition of the Venice International Architecture Biennale, titled "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," provides an opportunity to reflect and propose sustainable and adapted architectural solutions to new conditions and climate hazards. With the concept of Intelligens, Carlo Ratti, the Biennale’s curator, invites us to adopt a transversal and collective approach, integrating technology, materials science, and ecology to optimize the way we shape our spaces, thereby minimizing our environmental impact. With the project Vivre avec / Living with, the Jakob+MacFarlane Architectes agency, in association with Martin Duplantier Architectes and Éric Daniel-Lacombe Architectes, selected through a competition to represent France, has designed a temporary spatial installation "outside the walls," drawing from the physical constraints of its environment, as the French Pavilion is currently closed for renovation to improve public reception and energy efficiency.

We are very pleased to welcome you to this ephemeral pavilion, envisioned as an "inclusive shelter," as its architects define it, intended to bring together architectural proposals from around the world, enriched by contributions from architecture schools, in a space that will extend to the edge of the Giardini canal and interact with "the existing, proximities, the damaged, vulnerabilities, nature, and the living." Conferences will accompany the project throughout the Biennale.

This open laboratory will demonstrate that it is the united intelligences that will enable us to collectively face the obstacles, challenges, and crises of our world. We sincerely thank the architects, partners, patrons, and all the teams mobilized around this project, particularly the institut français, the pivotal operator of France's cultural action internationally, which ensures the production of the French Pavilion in Venice. 

Sponsors: CCR (Caisse Centrale de Réassurance), Leonard (VINCI Group's innovation and foresight platform), T/E/S/S atelier d'ingénierie, Saint-Gobain, 3F, Le Caillebotis Diamond, Metalmontaggi, Angevin, Protac (a subsidiary of the Rose Group), Sammode 

Partners: National Council of the Order of Architects, Cerema 

CCR offers insurers, with the guarantee of the French State and in the general interest, reinsurance coverage against natural disasters and uninsurable risks. As a public-private reinsurance entity, CCR is recognized for its expertise in risk management, its research and scientific analysis activities, and its advisory role to public authorities and local stakeholders in their adaptation and prevention strategies against extreme risks.

To face climate and societal challenges, CCR explores the concept of Living with on a daily basis. In line with its purpose, "Protecting insurability to enable everyone to build a future," and its commitment to supporting the adaptation of territories and the protection of heritage, CCR has supported the Living With project since its inception.

"Adapting and learning to live in an environment transformed by climate change is a key challenge for our societies. 'Living With' and its architectural project propose a positive vision of a new evolving habitat that blends with its space. By supporting this project, CCR's teams encourage collective reflection among French and international actors around innovative and sustainable solutions for adapting and coexisting with extreme risks. It is therefore with pride that CCR has committed alongside the architects embodying this project and representing French expertise at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale."

— Édouard Vieillefond, CEO of CCR 

Since its creation in 2017, Leonard, the innovation and foresight platform of the VINCI Group, has made adaptation to climate change a priority. On this cross-cutting theme of study and anticipation, Leonard mobilizes throughout the year all the actors involved in city-making and territorial development. 

The sponsorship provided to the French Pavilion as part of the 2025 Architecture Biennale is an opportunity for Leonard to enrich its prospective thinking. The theme Living with, and particularly Living with Vulnerabilities, resonates with various discussions and reports published in partnership with the think tank La Fabrique de la Cité. 

"This connection with designers, architects, and urban planners present at the Biennale also allows builders to develop innovative solutions to adapt buildings and infrastructures. Leonard is attentive to the field initiatives and experiments highlighted during the Biennale. The multiplication and intensification of hazards require bringing together stakeholders and rethinking new partnership models between the public and private sectors. The panorama of projects and achievements from all geographic zones, carried out by diverse structures, will complement the repository of solutions for organizing the resilience of our territories." 

— Julien Villalongue, Director of Leonard 

T/E/S/S Atelier d’Ingénierie is an engineering firm that collaborates with architects by providing support in the design of construction systems, both for structures and building envelopes. 

Their work applies to all types of buildings, from civil engineering structures to unique constructions such as artistic installations or experimental structures. It is based on solid expertise in structural analysis, in-depth knowledge of materials — steel, aluminum, wood, glass, concrete, textiles, and composites — and mastery of complex geometries. 

This unprecedented project of a temporary building in the Giardini of Venice embodies several key concerns for the firm: consideration of ecological impact, the design of comfortable spaces using simple and natural systems, life cycle thinking, and the reuse of building components. 

The use of a standardized and "low-cost" system — originally designed for construction sites — to create high-quality architectural spaces requires creativity, flexibility, and the ability to design bespoke subsystems. For this project, T/E/S/S applied its inventive and collaborative design approach, which the firm consistently practices with its partners. 

T/E/S/S thus contributed its expertise, on a pro bono basis, to assist the curatorial team in developing this unique project and supported the studies for: the design and organization of the Pavilion’s modular structure, the development of specific systems to integrate metal floors (custom-made and intended for reuse), the installation of stretched fabric coverings, and the geometric adaptation of ramps and staircases to the site’s topography and vegetation — a wooded area sloping down towards the canal. 

The theme "Vivre avec / Living with," chosen by the curators of the French Pavilion's exhibition at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, resonates with the advocacy of the Order of Architects: "Habitats, Cities, Territories: Architecture as a Solution." In a shared message, both provide common responses to the housing crisis, the climate emergency, and the need to rethink our ways of designing cities and territories with a focus on resource sobriety, environmental protection, as well as memories and vulnerabilities.

In a Pavilion under construction, the architecture highlighted through the selected projects remains sensitive, in constant dialogue with its environment, while also mindful of resource efficiency in a context of multiple vulnerabilities. The decision to welcome the public at the heart of its scaffolding illustrates what the practice of architecture should be: a discipline that is both open and grounded in its environment, connected to reality in a transitioning world, aiming to shape a manifesto for a cultural, political, and responsible architecture, resolutely oriented towards the common good.

The National Council of the Order of Architects is pleased to support Dominique Jakob, Brendan MacFarlane, Martin Duplantier, and Éric Daniel-Lacombe, who have managed, on the occasion of this Biennale, to position Architecture as a solution.

Across the country, the 30,000 French architects are committed on a daily basis: they conduct diagnostics, design programmes, renovate, transform, and rehabilitate. They support elected officials, engage in dialogue with residents, and rethink the existing environment, crafting solutions tailored to local specificities, closely aligned with human, social, and ecological realities.

-- Christophe Millet, President of the National Council of the Order of Architects