The Giardini are an area of gardens at one end of Venice, past the Arsenale area (where Venetian sea power was forged) and towards the Lido.

The Giardini are an area of gardens at one end of Venice, past the Arsenale area (where Venetian sea power was forged) and towards the Lido.

The trees and flowers offer a cool and leafy haven from the rest of the bustling city, and there's not a vaporetto or canal to be seen.

The Giardini is also home to the official pavilions of nation states from around the world. Permanent buildings, they are all different, some of them imposing (Italy, Germany, GB) some of them smaller and less strident (Korea, Canada).

They are stand, amongst the trees, in a kind of boulevard which runs from one end of the gardens to the other. It is here that the countries who have buildings here stage their Biennale shows, both for the contemporary art Biennale, and the present festival, the Biennale of Architecture.

Right now I am sitting with my laptop on my knees on the stairs outside the Japanese pavilion, which is a small-ish concrete cube surrounded by temporary green houses, and I have just visited a few of the national pavilions.

There are, of course, marked differences between the pavilions, and you could even say they follow the perceived national characteristics of each nation.

The British Pavilion show reflects our national obsession: our houses. It is concerned with housing and accommodation, and with the rising costs and lessening space available for new housing. Five architects provide different solutions to lack of space, while the central room give a history of housing in Britain.

I found the exhibition well presented but a bit dry, and most of all, a little depressing. It gives the impression of an island that is slowly but surely being covered in concrete and brick.

The French pavilion, which stands to the GB pavilion's left (how apt) has a personal, optimistic message from Nicolas Sarkozy printed on its walls (there's no such political messages in the GB building), and is designed around the theme of "generosity" in architecture - that is, designers adding not essential but just pretty, pleasant or beautiful aspects to building designs.

One quote says: "A beautiful home is a great home". It is about making life a little better through lovely design, and aptly, they then proceeded to make this journalist's life a little better - they handed out little glasses of champagne, small cakes, and the biggest olives I've ever seen - the size of apples. Very accommodating, very French.

Opposite the French is the German pavilion, and it is a very stark, and very Green exhibition. Concerned with how we can live beyond our current "transient European wealth" it is concerned with making design greener and more sustainable. I am not sure exactly how much architecture is involved in this, but the room that is full of apple plants on chemical drips, like a hospital ward for dying fruit, is striking and somehow quite affecting.

I am now off to the Scottish pavilion - which inevitably, now, looks rather modest and low-key compared to the big hitters in the Giardini - for a debate featuring Zaha Hadid, David Page and Charles Jencks.