Travel Inside The World's Most Spectacular Cliffside Homes

The idea of living on a cliff certainly isn't for the faint of heart (or someone who experiences vertigo). Yet there is something truly adventurous and romantic about choosing to live in a home that engages so deeply with nature, whether it's a modern structure built on the hills of Santorini or a more traditional castle nestled above the Ireland coast.

Our new favorite book Living on the Edge: Houses on Cliffs(Lannoo Publishers, October 2022) explores every facet of cliffside homes. These architects not only tackled buildings that could withstand extreme weather, steep, rocky terrain, and limited accessibility, but also designed ones that look stunningly beautiful – with views that don't disappoint. In our new series on Virtual Escapes, we chatted with author Agata Toromanoff about his cliffside exploration and the architects who dared to dream.

Photo: Yorgos Kordakis

"Challenging and not easily accessible plots, especially in the middle of nature, seem to be particularly tempting for architects and thus appealing as a subject to explore," says Toromanoff about what inspired him to write this book. "How is it possible to build in these impossible places? What influence do new technologies have? Why do many architects get inspired by traditional materials and solutions? The examples presented in the book answer these and many more questions."

Pictured above and below is a cliffside home called the Patio House (every room feels like you're on an outdoor patio), located on the Greek island of Karpathos. It's a family's summer home that looks out onto the Aegean Sea, designed by OOAK Architects.

Photo: Yorgos Kordakis

While plots are often challenging, architects often try to explore sustainable solutions. "The main goal is obviously to reduce the impact on the natural context to the minimum," says Toromanoff, "also by making living in these houses friendly for the environment in the long run."

Photo: Modscape

Receiving international acclaim, Australia-based Modscape designed this five-story home, called the Cliff House. "Nothing takes the attention from the ocean view, not even the interior design which is planned to be very minimalist," says Toromanoff in the book.The top story has a two-car garage, and the deck at the bottom features a Jacuzzi and barbecue. There's even an elevator to connect all the levels. Talk about cliff-hanger!

Photo: Alex Hogrefe

A section of the book looks at homes that have been visualized but have yet to be built. Alex Hogrefe of Visualizing Architecture in Cambridge, Massachusetts envisioned this picturesque cliffside retreat on the coast of Iceland.

Photo: Janez Martincic

This Alpine Shelter, pictured above and below, lives inside the rocky peaks of the Slovenian Alps. It was designed by students at Harvard Graduate School of Design along with OFIS Architects. The book shows how the architects used a helicopter to put the pre-fab shelter in place without disturbing the natural surroundings.

Photo: Janez Martincic

Below is a lakeside house in Hyderabad, India, that features three large teakwood portals that rotate and shift to frame unique views, according to the architects of the Collective Project.

Photo: Benjamin Hosking

Even if you can't (or wouldn't want to!) live in one of these homes, it's inspiring to witness the creativity these architects use to dream so big. Architecture fans can check outLiving on the Edge: Houses on Cliffs for more vertigo-inducing homes.

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