The awards ceremony was held this morning. The big gongs were a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Portuguese maestro, Alvaro Siza, and a Golden Lion for Best Project to Urban Think Tank and Justin McGuirk for their installation on community life in the ‘vertical slum that formed in a derelict high-rise in Caracas, Venezuela’. The Silver Lion for most promising young practice went to Grafton Architects of Dublin.

There was a surreal moment during the ceremony when we could hear sounds of protest, and assumed it was something to do with the Occupy Biennale folk whose posters we have seen around town. Afterwards we discovered it was a group, fully kitted out in colorful balaclavas, protesting for the release of Pussy Riot in Russia.

In the wake of all that excitement we spent a few hours catching up on a few of the things we’d missed at the Giardini. The number of people crammed into the Giardini today was overwhelming, so we escaped to the city to see a couple of the masterworks of Venetian architect, Carlo Scarpa. At the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, a cultural foundation located in an old palazzo, Scarpa designed an entry, exhibition spaces, and a beautiful garden. It was a great spot to relax and came with an extra treat in that the Fondazione is also hosting an exhibition of sketches by Alvaro Siza and a show of the beautiful books produced by Lars Müller Publishers. A last stop was Scarpa’s Olivetti showroom on the square in front of St Mark’s Cathedral. Olivetti was the Apple of its day, producing masterfully designed products and commissioning leading architects to design its buildings. Unfortunately, Olivetti’s fortunes declined and it no longer exists as a separate company, but the showroom is now a kind of Olivetti museum that can be fully explored and photographed.

We went back to the Palazzo Bembo to get some last photos and do our final checks. Just as we were packing up the young Japanese architects Kumiko Inui and Akihisa Hirata popped in to see our installation. They are old friends of mine from my time in Tokyo. Earlier today their work at the Japanese Pavilion had won the Golden Lion for best national pavilion. They’ve both had a busy few months – Hirata working on an upcoming exhibition of his work at the Architecture Foundation in London, and Inui preparing a special issue of the global magazine, The Japan Architect, on her work. I signed Inui up for a lecture tour to New Zealand and Australia next year - one of several deals we’ve stitched up over the last couple of days.

We’ve had a great response to our installation, and images of it are popping up in the media – we’ve just found a very positive review on a Spanish website in fact. But tomorrow the team splits up: Henry is heading back to Copenhagen to continue his Masters studies; Mel, Patrick and myself are jetting back to Auckland; and Simon is staying on for a few days recuperation. We’re just hoping we don’t get tangled up in the massive Lufthansa strikes that have just been announced…