Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: the Korean Pavilion curated by Mass Studies founder Minsuk Cho has been awarded the Golden Lion for best pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014.

The exhibition, entitled Crow's Eye View: The Korean Peninsula, aims to demonstrate the potential of a unified Korea by bringing together and interrogating the architecture of both cultures.

The jury applauded the project for presenting "a rich body of work in a highly charged political situation".

"It is research-in-action, which expands the spatial and architectural narrative into a geopolitical reality," said the jury.

Cho discussed the pavilion in an interview with Dezeen yesterday. "The trick is to actually look back to work to move forward," he said. "And this was a fascinating task within the timeframe – a very monumental one."

The runner-up, receiving the Silver Lion, is the Chilean Pavilion for the exhibition Monolith Controversies, which the jury praised for its focus on one element – a prefabricated concrete wall – used to highlight the role of modern architecture in different ideological and political contexts.

Three special mentions go to Canada, France and Russia.

A Silver Lion was also awarded to Spanish architect Andrés Jaque for his project Sales Oddity. Milano 2 and the Politics of Direct-to-home TV Urbanism – part of the Monditalia exhibition at the Arsenale.

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