Talk to Maria Gkika about your sustainable construction inquiries.
Our Philosophy
Biophilic Design in Architecture: The Cretan Nature Meets Concrete
The variety of architectural and engineering design solutions and their compliance with the Greek Building Codes and Global Engineering Standards incited a lot of challenges. Often, engineers and architects strive to preserve the aesthetics of housing appearances and fail to fulfill a client’s need.
Compared to commercial buildings, the residential design must allow for full integration at all levels of inhabitants’ lives. Moreover, due to excessive energy consumption during the construction and maintenance of a residential project, project design and management must be sustained. For instance, demand for water is outstripping supply in Crete and climate change is making it worse.
Thus, to successfully integrate our sustainable design principles in our projects, an optimal balance between sustainable housing, technologies integration and customer satisfaction is required. Likewise, we focus with determination on the sustainability of our design towards:
- Energy and Water consumption reduction
- Using local environmentally friendly materials
- Waste Recycling improvement
- Optimized Position and Orientation of the Property
- Enhance Indoor Environmental quality
- Optimize Operational & Maintenance practices
Biophilic Design Dossier
ARENCOS Biophilic Design Dossier is a collection of resources to assist property owners explore biophilic design and promote human-nature connection in the built environment.
The dossier provides help, guidance, motivation, and support for key features and practices from introducing biophilic design to construction materials, to the energy saving planning and design, all the way through construction and well-being.
The Biophilic Design Dossier includes: Essentials of biophilic design, success stories, lessons learned, biophilic design guidance, biophilic design map, biophilic design activities and handbook, risks to avoid and opportunities to proceed.
Energy Consumption & Efficiency in Green Buildings
Energy Consumption (kWh/month)
This bar chart illustrates the energy consumption (in kWh per month) of various building systems within a green building. HVAC systems have the highest energy consumption, followed by lighting and appliances. Renewable energy sources contribute negatively to the total, signifying energy savings by offsetting consumption. The chart highlights areas for energy optimization and the impact of renewable energy integration.
Energy Consumption
Transformation Highlights
Off-Grid Energy System
A hybrid 4.8 kW photovoltaic array, paired with 14.4 kWh lithium battery storage and a 3.5 kW pure sine wave inverter, powers all lighting, appliances, tools, and a small irrigation pump—designed for autonomy up to 5 days without sun.
Water Independence
A deep-drilled 87-meter borehole, treated with UV filtration and activated carbon, supplies potable water year-round. Rainwater harvesting from 130 m² of roof area is redirected to a 12,000-liter underground cistern, used for greywater recycling and low-pressure irrigation.
Thermal Envelope & Bioclimatic Design
The structure incorporates high-R-value hempcrete walls, triple-glazed passive windows, and a green roof system to reduce thermal gains. Orientation and shading devices were optimized through CFD simulation to limit mechanical cooling to just 3 weeks per year.
Construction Materials
80% of the materials used were either locally sourced or reclaimed, including Chania stone masonry, untreated cypress wood, lime-based plaster, and ceramic roof tiles repurposed from a nearby derelict farmstead.
Transform your buildings into high-performing assets.
Among others, we conduct dedicated research on:
- Location
- Size
- Orientation
- Local Materials
- Recycled Materials
- Insulation
- Air Sealing
- Windows & Doors Selection
- Sustainable Materials
- Energy Star Appliances
- LED Lighting
- Water Conserving Fixtures
- Efficient HVAC
- Renewable Energy Systems
- Rain Water Collection
- Solar Hot Water
- Intelligent Planting
OFF-GRID HOUSE IN CRETE: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Fully off-grid covers places where there is no mains grid connection at all. This could either be down to the costs or purely as a personal choice. Installing solar panels is not enough to be considered off-grid, and most people who use solar energy still rely on electricity from an outside source.
Functionality. Practicality. Sustainability. Inclusivity.
Using our critical thinking, knowledge, motivation and passion to deliver lasting value for our projects– that’s our approach to sustainability. We have the motivation to do it, and we believe we have the responsibility to do it. It’s that simple.
PHCC is an architectural and engineering philosophy for zero-carbon buildings in Crete, Greece.
Our expertise spans carbon, water, waste and energy saving, planning and management skills ranging from project construction and advisory services to sustainable infrastructure and net-zero.
