Constantina has founded her own eco-friendly architecture firm, a business dedicated to near-zero energy buildings.
Constantina was already an accomplished and acclaimed young architect when she took the plunge and launched her own eco-friendly firm in Crete in 2024. The FoundIt entrepreneurship programme helped her develop the confidence and clarity to bring her vision to life.
According to the EU, buildings consume more energy in Europe than any other sector, with huge amounts used, and wasted, in heating, cooling and lighting. Constantina’s studio, Chōros Architecture Workshop, focuses on designs that make the most of natural light, heat and ventilation, and so minimise energy needs and associated costs. Alongside new buildings, her work also includes upgrading existing energy-intensive structures.
Constantina says: “In architecture, less explanation often means a better design; clarity in purpose is my firm’s strongest statement.”
In 2025, Constantina won our Regional Sustainability Award for Europe for her efforts to drive sustainable, bioclimatic design.
Building expertise
After deciding to launch her own business, Constantina joined the FoundIt entrepreneurship programme, delivered by our partners Bizrupt and 100mentors, to gain the business knowledge she needed to complement her architectural expertise.
FoundIt supports budding entrepreneurs in Crete and the Dodecanese islands to turn their ideas into reality, supporting young islanders to become job creators. The programme’s focus on strategic planning and goal setting helped Constantina develop her business model and define her objectives, while her newfound marketing skills, legal and financial knowledge equipped her to navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship.
Constantina describes her journey as follows: “Action cures anxiety, each step forward gives my vision momentum and purpose.”
Sustainable solutions
Constantina’s business champions sustainable, bioclimatic architecture which suits the local geography and climate, and minimizes environmental impact. In an era of high energy prices and widespread energy poverty locally, this approach is helping to address both immediate community needs as well as long-term environmental challenges.
As Europe works towards the ambition of becoming the first climate-neutral continent, transforming energy use in both new and existing buildings is critical. Constantina’s firm is at the vanguard of this movement. And on an island where much of the employment revolves around seasonal tourism, her new role as a job creator is also particularly valuable.