THE DESIRE TO LIVE | Clément Blanchet | World Architecture Day in Thessaloniki

Location: Thessaloniki State Conservatory, Thessaloniki, Greece

On 5 October 2026, on the occasion of World Architecture Day, Clément Blanchet presented ‘The Desire to Live: Architecture, Seduction and the Contemporary Condition’ at the Thessaloniki State Conservatory in Greece.

The lecture questioned architecture's increasing dependence on performance, regulation, density and sustainability, exploring the distance between what architecture must provide and what makes a place desirable to inhabit.

Through the notion of seduction, Clément Blanchet examined architecture beyond its functional obligations, considering how spaces shape behaviours, relationships and collective life. The lecture proposed a reflection on architecture's capacity to transform necessity into possibility, and to make life not only habitable, but desirable.