Less is more: Venice Architecture Biennale 2010

Isobiot®ope (the buildingwhichneverdies) 2010 – R&Sie(n), France The French pavilion's glowing installation explores the damage caused to the ozone layer Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Your Split Second House, 2010 – Olafur Eliasson, Denmark Eliasson has created a cavernous, dark space in which whip-cracks and writhing snakes of water flash in front of your eyes, hinting at thrilling structures that could never really be, and are gone before your eyes can adjust to their uncertain forms Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Cloudscapes – Tetsuo Kondo Architects and Transsolar Klima Engineering, Germany Visitors enjoy an otherworldly experience as they walk up delicate steel ramps into artificially generated clouds Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian The Hungarian pavilion A maze of pencils hang from ceilings by cotton threads. The installation is backed up by touching videos showing architects' hands – young and old – drawing Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Reclaim – Noura Al-Sayeh and Fuad Al-Ansari, Bahrain An installation of fishermen's huts uprooted from the coast of Bahrain, which won the Golden Lion award for best national pavilion Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Installation from Anton García-Abril and Ensamble Studio, Spain A team of Spanish architects, engineers and musicians have installed two enormous concrete I-beams across an entire room of the Corderie – these appear to be held in check by a rock and a coil spring, suggesting that the line we walk between self-destruction and a positive future is both delicate and dramatic Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: Action images The Tiger of Venice – Mark Blaschitz (SPLITTERWERK), Austria The Austrians want us to retain something of the innocence of childhood with models of a city centre – this one straddled by a centrepiece building in the guise of a tiger Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian The Austrian pavilion The Austrians have created another model of a city centre, this one made of flowers Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian The Stadium of Close Looking, British pavilion The British presentation, curated by Vicky Richardson of the British Council and London architects muf, is represented by, among other things, excerpts from Ruskin's The Stones of Venice and a wooden model of the Olympic stadium currently being built in London. Daily drawing classes for schoolchildren are also taking place here Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Work Place, 2010 – Studio Mumbai Architects, India The Indian pavilion earned a special mention from the international jury at the Venice Architecture Biennale Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian The French pavilion France's installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Tokyo Metabolizing – Ryue Nishizawa and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Japan The Japanese pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian The Hungarian pavilion A maze of bright yellow school pencils hang from ceilings by cotton threads at Hungary's pavilion Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian