Spain has won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale.

The Spanish pavilion was curated by architects Carlos Quintáns and Iñaqui Carnicero (Carnicero + Quintans). Titled Unfinished, the pavilion uses photography to showcase 80 buildings have taken an optimistic approach to design after the European economic crisis.

The jury said the exhibit "shows how creativity and commitment can transcend material constraints."

Australia’s exhibit The Pool is the first to be held in the new Denton Corker Marshall pavilion, which opened last year.

Curated by emerging architects Aileen Sage (Isabelle Toland and Amelia Holliday) and urbanist Michelle Tabet, the exhibit illustrates the important of pools to our national identity, while also paying homage to indigenous culture.

"We knew it was a symbol of affluence and also a symbol of necessity; something that could be public and private. We knew it was the kind of thing that could be natural and manmade. Just instinctively there were a lot of layers of rich meaning embedded in that object of the pool," Tabet told CNN.

The designers have recorded a soundtrack of stories woven around public swimming pools, from the general public but also former Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, and novelist, Christos Tsiolkas.

The colours of the room and furniture reflect the colours of the Australian outback.

The exhibit explores Australia’s unique connection to water.

"[The pool] is very specific to a culture which dates back millennia in indigenous history. So whilst there is water in every country, there is a particular framework in which Australian culture thinks and conceptualizes water," said Tabet.