Living With / Vivre Avec — From Venice to Chicago
Chicago, October 21, 2025 – Following its presentation in Venice, the French Pavilion of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale commissioned by the Institut Français continues its journey to Chicago with Living With / Vivre Avec, a major exhibition exploring architecture’s capacity to respond to contemporary concerns, as a vehicle for dialogue, innovation, and sustainability.
Commissioned by Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, in partnership with the 6th edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, this traveling exhibition is presented with the generous support of Saint-Gobain, worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction.
Running from November 8, 2025, to January 31, 2026, Living With / Vivre Avec extends the reflections initiated in Venice. Designed by lead curators, architects Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane—in association with Eric Daniel-Lacombe and Martin Duplantier—the exhibition examines how architecture can help sustain life in a world of instability.
“How can we inhabit a world shaped by climate disruption, population displacement, resource and scarcity?” ask the curators. “Living With / Vivre Avec” explores how architecture can become an act of resilience rather than of resistance.
THE EXHIBITION
In its Chicago edition, Living With / Vivre Avec transforms into an immersive landscape of ideas, inviting visitors to consider how architecture can help us navigate a world facing climate upheaval, social changes and urban transformation.
Organized around six themes—Living with the Existing, the Immediate, the Broken, Vulnerabilities, Nature, and Combined Intelligences—the exhibition leads the visitor through a forest of totems showcasing international projects and reflections. Each totem highlights inventive architectural responses that renew existing environments, adapt to fragility, and encourage coexistence among humans, technology, and the natural world.
Presented for the first time in North America, the Chicago edition connects directly with the city’s dynamic architectural and social fabric. It aligns with the 6th Chicago Architecture Biennial theme, Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, curated by Florencia Rodriguez, creating a shared platform for architects, thinkers, and citizens to imagine sustainable ways of living—between one storm and the next.
EXHIBITION DESIGN
Developed by the curators in collaboration with Civic Projects Architecture, the Chicago scenography reinterprets the sustainable design language of the Venice Pavilion through a new, site-specific installation. The totem-based structure forms an open and navigable landscape, where visitors move among modular, reusable elements crafted from lightweight, low-impact materials.
Reflecting the spirit of Living With / Vivre Avec, the scenography embodies adaptability and collective intelligence—principles that link architecture to the broader ecological and social ecosystems it inhabits.
CURATORS AND PRODUCTION
Curators: Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane in association with Eric Daniel-Lacombe and Martin Duplantier
Exhibition design and facilities: Civic Projects Architecture
Original Commission: Institut français for the 19th Venice Biennale Architecture
Chicago Commission: Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education
PUBLIC EVENT
A panel on Living With / Vivre Avec will take place on Sunday, November 9, 2025, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at 840 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611.
The discussion will explore architecture’s capacity to respond to today’s polycrisis—a world of intensifying conflicts, unpredictable climates, and widespread displacement. Panelists will examine how architecture can contribute to sustaining life amid instability, and how these challenges can engage not only experts, but communities everywhere.
Moderators:
Dominique Jakob & Brendan MacFarlane, Architects, Jakob+MacFarlane Architecture, France
Panelists:
Alissa Anderson, Principal of Publications and Exhibitions, Studio Gang, USA
Ehsan Baharlou, Professor, University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, USA
Lucas Hamilton, Manager of Applied Building Sciences (R&D unit), Saint Gobain, USA
Glyn Lewis, Director & Architect, Renewal Development, Canada
Christopher Maurer, Architect, Redhouse Studio architecture, USA
Zenon Radewych, Architect, WZMH Architects, Canada
Press representatives may meet and interview curators and panelists on November 8 and 9, 2025.
About the Chicago Architecture Biennial
The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) is North America’s leading architecture and design exhibition, fostering dialogue on the built environment through global collaboration and innovation.
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About Villa Albertine
Villa Albertine is a French cultural institution fostering artistic and intellectual exchange between the United States, France, and beyond. Through residencies, public programs, and publications, it promotes cross-disciplinary dialogue in the arts, ideas, and culture across ten U.S. cities.
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About Saint-Gobain
Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Group, celebrating its 360th anniversary in 2025, remains more committed than ever to its purpose “Making the World a Better Home”.
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About Jakob + MacFarlane
Jakob + MacFarlane is a Paris-based architecture firm led by Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane. Renowned for innovative, experimental, and context-sensitive designs, the firm explores the intersections of architecture, urbanism, and technology, creating projects that respond to contemporary social and environmental challenges.
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About Eric Daniel-Lacombe
Eric Daniel-Lacombe is a French architect and urbanist, Professor and Chair of New Urbanities in the Face of Natural Risks at ENSA Paris-La Villette. He leads resilient architecture projects, advising mu-nicipalities and designing flood-resistant urban developments. Author of Towards an Architecture for the Health of the Living.
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About Martin Duplantier
Martin Duplantier is an architect and urban planner leading a firm with offices in Paris, Bordeaux, Lviv, and Kyiv. His work reimagines architecture as a catalyst for collective, post-conflict, and post-carbon transformation. He also teaches at the Kharkiv School of Architecture and is a member of ARCH4UA (Architecture for Ukraine).
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About Civic Projects Architecture
Civic Projects Architecture is a Chicago-based design practice focused on sustainable, socially engaged, and collaborative architecture. The firm specializes in creating innovative, environmentally responsible structures that connect communities and promote adaptive, resilient design solutions.
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