Venice, 13th September 2008

The International Jury of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition, presided over by Jeffrey Kipnis (USA), critic and lecturer at the University of Ohio, and comprised of: Paola Antonelli (Italy), curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; Max Hollein (Austria), director of the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and of the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt; Farshid Moussavi (Iran), founder of Foreign Office Architecture in London and lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi (Italy), critic, historian and lecturer, specialized in urban planning, and a teacher of History of Contemporary Architecture at the Università di Roma La Sapienza, has decided to confer the official awards  for the 11th Architecture Exhibition as follows:

Golden Lion for Best National Participation

to Poland (Pavilion at Giardini)

Hotel Polonia. The Afterlife of Buildings

Nicolas Grospierre, Kobas Laksa

Commissioner: Agnieszka  Morawińska. Curators: Grzegorz Piątek, Jarosław Trybuś

Assistant Commissioner: Zofia Machnicka

Golden Lion for the Best Installation Project in the International Exhibition

to Greg Lynn Form (Usa, Corderie dell’Arsenale, Installations)

Recycled Toys Furniture

Silver Lion for a Promising Young Architect in the International Exhibition

to Chilean group Elemental (Padiglione Italia at Giardini, Experimental Architecture)

The Awards and Opening Ceremony of the 11th International Exhibition took place on September 13th in Venice at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale at 5 p.m. also with the conferral of the following awards:

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Frank O. Gehry

Special Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to a historian of Architecture to James S. Ackerman

on the Fifth Centennial of the birth of Andrea Palladio.

Golden Lions attributed by the Board of the Venice Biennale Foundation, chaired by Paolo Baratta, and on the proposal of the Director, Aaron Betsky.