At the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 the French Pavilion is ‘en plein air’

At the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, the French Pavilion is en plein air

During the 19th Architecture Biennale, the Pavilion of France in the Venice Giardini will be closed for renovation. The exhibition, entitled “Vivre avec/Living with’ will therefore be an ephemeral installation, placed en plein air between the French pavilion and the canal across the gardens.

An Experimental Pavilion in the Heart of the Gardens.
Conceived by architects Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane, in collaboration with Martin Duplantier and Éric Daniel-Lacombe, the temporary space has been developed as an open and inclusive retreat that fully represents the concept of “living with the environment and landscape”. The curatorial team drew inspiration from the construction site, the gardens, and the canal, making the ongoing renovation an integral part of the visitors’ architectural and sensory experience. For the first time, the pavilion will open to the water, a Venetian landscape key element, creating a microclimate protected from direct sunlight.
The project is intended to be a living representation of the contemporary world and, at the same time, a pressing invitation to reconnect with nature, changing attitudes toward the environment.

Six themes
The curators wanted the pavilion under restoration to become the first of the themes addressed, using the building itself as an exhibit. From there, visitors will explore the six main themes of the exhbition by moving around the existing building: “Living with… the existing” will be followed by ”Living with… proximity,” ”Living with… the damage,” ”Living with… vulnerabilities,” ”Living with… nature and the living world,” and ” Living with… the ‘collective intelligence.”

To minimize the environmental impact, the architects designed a setup entirely made in Venice, thus avoiding transportation. All the elements of the temporary pavilion are designed to be reused.

Left to right: Brendan MacFarlane, Dominique Jakob, Martin Duplantier,  Éric Daniel-Lacombe
© Juliette Agnel.

Pictures: courtesy of Agence Anne Samson Communications / Institut Français