Piliko is an urban non-profit organization, that since 2006 works to promote and develop sustainable design based on the use of natural and recyclable materials. • Piliko belongs to a wide international network of organizations as Red proterra Iberoamerican network, CEDTerra (Casalincontrada/Chieti), Associazione Internazionale Città della Terra Cruda (net), IDMA instituto del medio ambiente (Santiago/Chile), Terra Migaki Design (Milano) and brings professional knowledge in Greece through a series of activities such as workshops, lectures, expeditions and lifelong educational programs.
The main aspects of collective Piliko’s and Piliko’s members work are:
- Connecting academia with engineers and practicioners. Piliko’ members come from both academia and engineers from established architectural firms as “southern architects”. Therefore, one of the main objectives of Piliko is to bridge the gap between academic research and practice on earthen construction by networking, organizing workshops addressed to all of them and highlighting the common ground. Participants in Piliko’s activities are also people who need consultancy for earthen construction techniques and do self-constructions.
- Building with earth. Piliko’s members have issued more than ten (10) new building permits with earthen materials as light-clay, straw bales, earth plasters, earth blocks and have renovated numerous others. In all cases, apart from the permit, they supervise the preparation of the materials and the entire construction.
- Research. Piliko’s members have undertaken various research programs and have been principal investigators in four (4) peer-review papers
- Education. Piliko exhibits a strong focus on promoting earth construction through educational programs. In most of the constructions Piliko organizes parallel workshops, so that engineers and students can familiarize themselves with earthen materials in a real project. Moreover, in the last three years Piliko has started the first educational program on earthen building techniques approved by the Greek ministry of education.
The Region of Crete, the Municipalities of several cities in Greece, Chania Culture ΚΕΠΠΕΔΗΧ ΚΑΜ, Technical University of Crete (TUC), Ploigos Educational Development Company, National Technical University (NTUA) and small local companies for building materials support the work of Piliko. Μembers of Piliko are: architects, civil Engineers, interior designers.