This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award in the Architecture + Economic Crisis category. See the full list of winners here.

That the name @kinito resembles a Twitter handle is not a coincidence. Architect Esri Krouska wanted his project to adapt to each individual “user,” much like a Twitter account, and his peripatetic house invokes the inherent mobility of the quippy social media outlet. Yet despite the playfulness of its name, @kinito responds to a very serious problem. When the economic crisis in Greece reached its peak in late 2011, Krouska sought to imagine creative ways to survive the harsh austerity measures plaguing his country. The result was @kinito, “an autonomous movable house unit that you take with you depending on the needs and the season of the year,” explained Krouska. More after the jump.

When Krouska designed @kinito in 2011, he was directly responding to the realities of a country in serious financial turmoil. He saw real estate taxes spiking and mounting electricity taxes resulting in powerless homes. “As things were getting worse, I started imagining Athens full of abandoned and dark buildings,” Krouska elaborated. He conceived of @kinito as a way to quite literally escape the pervasive problems of recession-hit Greece. He imagined “new sustainable settlements” with “excellent passive insulation and … renewable energy sources” atop the city’s abandoned buildings. Immense solar panels would generate energy from Greece’s sunshine, and when the seasons change, the @kinito unit can be transplanted to the Grecian countryside.

ΑΑ Athens visiting school 2012 workshop

The Architecture School of National Technical University of Athens is going to host in the first week of April the Cipher City, an architectural workshop, with the aim of promoting parts of the inactive urban realm. (1-7 April 2012)

The purpose of the workshop is mainly to discover the dynamic qualities of urban environment and its abilities for evolution through the use of contemporary ways and interactive technology. During the workshop, which is going to be realized from 1-7 April 2012, the participators will experience the historical, contemporary and geographical diversity of Athens through excursions and routes into the town. Teams are invited to attempt to discover the connection between built and unbuilt, the role of public space in relation to the existing buildings.

Ολοένα και περισσότεροι είναι εκείνοι που αποφασίζουν να κάνουν τους αγρότες μέσα στο σπίτι τους, καλλιεργώντας αγροτικά προϊόντα στα μπαλκόνια και τους κήπους των πολυκατοικιών και μονοκατοικιών της Θεσσαλονίκης.

Φυτώρια και καταστήματα αγροτικών εφοδίων, σύμφωνα με δημοσίευμα της "Καθημερινής της Κυριακής", καταγράφουν το τελευταίο διάστημα ένα νέο κύμα ενδιαφέροντος για καλλιέργειες κηπευτικών και αρωματικών φυτών στο σπίτι, στη βεράντα, σε παρτέρια και γλάστρες, που συναγωνίζεται αυτό των καλλωπιστικών φυτών και φαίνεται να συνδέεται άμεσα με τη μείωση του οικογενειακού εισοδήματος.

Ιδιοκτήτες καταστημάτων στην οδό Φράγκων της Θεσσαλονίκης, όπου πωλούνται ρίζες κηπευτικών, οπωροφόρων, βολβών και σπόρων εκτιμούν ότι η κίνηση σε σύγκριση με πέρυσι είναι αυξημένη 30-35%, χωρίς μάλιστα να έχει κορυφωθεί η περίοδος ζήτησης που υπολογίζεται πριν από το Πάσχα.