The project "Vivre avec / Living with" by the agency JAKOB+MACFARLANE, formed by architects Dominique JAKOB and Brendan MACFARLANE, in collaboration with MARTIN DUPLANTIER ARCHITECTS and ERIC DANIEL LACOMBE EDL ARCHITECTS, was selected following a competition to represent France at the International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2025. The French Pavilion is implemented by the Institut français, operator for the the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. 

The competition for the design and realisation of the project representing France at this Biennale took place in two phases. During the first phase in December 2023, the selection committee, chaired by Bernard Desmoulin - Architect, elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institut de France, composed of five other qualified individuals and three institutional representatives, examined all forty-five applications to preselect five multidisciplinary teams embodying the values ​​of the contemporary French architectural, urban, and landscape scene.

The five teams selected to compete in the second phase were invited to present a detailed project outside the walls, thus renewing the traditional format of France's participation in the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The jury selected the project "Vivre avec / Living with", which explores the capacity of architecture to address climate challenges, conflicts, and the world's instability. To achieve this, the project calls upon three intelligences: the intelligence of nature, human intelligence, and artificial intelligence.

"Vivre avec" proposes a spatial device that creates porosity with its immediate environment and coexists with the restoration site of the French Pavilion.

This lightweight structure is built from reused elements and conceived as an inclusive shelter, an "open laboratory" that becomes a space for exhibition, meetings, and discussions, enriched by contributions from French and international architecture schools. 

• JAKOB+MACFARLANE ARCHITECTS, the lead co-commissioner, is an architecture, urbanism, design, and research agency founded in 1998 in Paris. Dominique JAKOB and Brendan MACFARLANE advocate for an architecture driven by "a reflection on the architectural, urban, and creative potential of building anew from existing structures," placing the capacity for evolution at the center of their architectural approach. 

• ERIC DANIEL-LACOMBE ARCHITECTS, the co-contractor co-commissioner, established in 1989 and led by architect Eric Daniel Lacombe, has developed strong expertise in "living in vulnerable territories exposed to natural risks." As a practitioner-designer and builder, he leverages this expertise as a consultant to municipalities exposed to such risks, as seen in the design of resilient developments in the Valleys following the aftermath of Storm Alex in the Alpes-Maritimes, where recent floods have caused human tragedies and material disasters. 

• MARTIN DUPLANTIER ARCHITECTS, represented by Martin DUPLANTIER, architect and urban planner, is a co-contractor co-commissioner. The MDA agency, founded in 2008, encompasses three disciplines: architecture, landscape, and urbanism. In recent years, the agency has been committed to envisioning the reconstruction of Ukraine, having conducted with its team "an assessment of the destruction and the possibilities for reconstructing the identity elements of Ukrainian culture." 

L’Exposition internationale d’architecture – La Biennale di Venezia 2025 

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2025 will take place from May 24 to November 23, 2025. It will be curated by the Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, who heads the MIT Senseable City Lab in Cambridge, one of the leading global research centers on cities and new technologies. The theme of the Biennale is not yet known. 

The French Pavilion, located within the Giardini, will be closed in 2025 for renovation 

The 2025 edition will be marked by the closure of the French Pavilion for significant renovation works conducted by the French Embassy in Italy, aimed at improving visitor facilities and the building's energy performance. In line with its objectives for ecological transition, the Institut français has committed the French Pavilion in Venice to reducing its carbon footprint since 2022. The set target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by at least 25% by 2026, and 40% by 2030, averaging -5% per year. 

President of the committee:

• Bernard Desmoulin - Architect, member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institut de France

Expert members of the committee, in alphabetical order:

• Reza Azard - Architect, Founding Partner and Co-manager of Projectiles
• Ivan Blasi - Architect, Director of Prizes and Programs at the Mies van der Rohe Foundation
• Ludivine Gragy - Landscape Architect
• Marine Kerboua - Architect, Associate Cooperating with the Grand Huit agency
• Francis Rambert - Journalist, Architecture Critic, Director of the Department of Architectural Creation at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine

Institutional members of the committee: 

• Hélène Fernandez - Deputy Director-General of Heritage and Architecture, in charge of architecture, Ministry of Culture
• Marie Buscail - Deputy Director of Culture and Media, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs
• Eva Nguyen Binh - President of the Institut français