Japan pavilion wins top award at Venice architecture exhibition

TOKYO, Japan - (From L) architect Toyoo Ito, photographer Naoya Hatakeyama, and architects Kumiko Inui, Akihisa Hirata and Sosuke Fujimoto, are pictured with the Golden Lion trophy at the award ceremony for the 13th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition in Venice on Aug. 29, 2012, where the Japan pavilion won top prize. Ito, commissioner of the pavilion, exhibited along with other architects the process of designing "Home for All" places where survivors of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan gather to eat, drink and talk. Hatakeyama displayed photos of disaster-hit areas.