There’s so much to love about clifftop homes, from the dramatic landscapes surrounding the perched structures to the stunning vistas and rolling hills.
Here are seven of the coolest clifftop homes.
Hold onto your seats and prepare to lose your sense of gravity as we tour the planet for our favourites.
1. Casa Brutale
The jaw-dropping rendered images, which show a mansion that’s part Bond villain lair and part dream home, rapidly spread from design and architecture blogs to news websites after being released by architectural firm OPA back in 2016.
“The whole project was designed for almost four months… in order to ‘break the internet’. We wanted to create a sensation in every possible way,” OPA’s Laertis-Antonios Ando Vassiliou told archdaily.com.
In 2016, OPA announced the internet’s favourite architecture project had found a client and would be built as a home near Beirut in Lebanon.
The current site for the home sits at an altitude of over 1,600m on Faqra Mount, just outside Beirut, and it is the work of several architects and firms, including Laertis-Antonios Ando Vassiliou and Pantelis Kampouropoulos who initially came up with the design, local design firm Sarkis Azadian Architects and engineering firm ARUP.
Casa Brutale is literally like no other home you’ve ever seen. Picture: Picture: LOOM Design/ OPA
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2. Monastery of Roussanou
Not a fan of next-door neighbours? This historic, 16th-century structure with views of misty valleys and not a neighbour in sight is the isolated escape of our dreams.
Unfortunately for us, the huge and rather precarious-looking building is not a home we can stay in, but is actually the Monastery of Roussanou, situated in Meteora, Greece.
It consists of three floors – the church is on the ground floor, while the upper stories are reserved for guest spaces, reception halls and an exhibition room.
Imagine the views from these historic windows. Picture: Getty
3. A remote steel tent
What happens when a passionate mountain bike rider feels the desire to build his own remote retreat deep in the hills surrounding Sydney? This steel shed, that’s what.
When Neil Soderlund came across the 182-hectare spot in remote bushland, he decided to take the plunge and create a shipping container home that would withstand everything the Aussie bush could throw at it.
Built on the edge of a sandstone cliff that boasts a great view over the side of a valley, the spot has a 250m difference in elevation so it proved a tricky project – but the results are worth it.
When the sides of the shipping container are open, a central living area and lots of windows are revealed. Picture: Good Cop Bad Cop
4. An Italian mountaintop shack
One for the adventurers, this itty bitty tin shelter is located atop one of the most precarious-looking cliff faces we’ve ever seen. It was created by Italian architects Roberto Dini and Stefano Girodo as a refuge for local climbers.
The duo named the cabin ‘Luca Pasqualetti’, after the great mountain lover, who sadly passed on the Apuan Alps in May 2014.
Given its stunning natural location, it was important to the architects that it leave a minimal environmental impact, so the team gave themselves just one working day to construct the cabin in its final location.
The prefab shelter’s structural foundations were divided into four wood and steel panels and were airlifted via helicopter for assembly on the mountainside.
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No noisy neighbours here. Picture: Adele Muscolino
5. A clifftop home in Maui
Finished in 2011, after seven years of planning and hard work, this home’s design lends itself to the natural elements around it.
The structure was designed as several standalone ‘houses’ under one roof and allows for as many optimal and complete views of the ocean as possible.
Each room has been crafted as a U-shaped unit, while each space opens onto the facade facing the vast sea, taking advantage of the incredible vistas – which should be a prerequisite for any home that stands in such a stunning location.
The home was designed to take advantage of the views while also trying to fit into the robust terrain. Picture: Anna Moller
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6. Brazilian rainforest abode
Hidden amid the lush terrain of rainforest in São Paulo, Brazil, is this modern home with a rooftop deck at treetop level offering the ultimate escape.
With its sleek lines, concrete features and minimalist design Casa Na Mata (Jungle House) looks part Bond villain lair, part dream home.
Designed by Marcio Kogan and Samanta Cafardo at Studio MK27, the house has a lower level built into the rocky mountain terrain plus two levels of living space and a grass rooftop level.
The design makes the most of the scenery. Picture: Fernando Guerra/ Studio MK27
7. Blue Mountains Invisible House
This home, perched on a clifftop overlooking New South Wales Blue Mountains, is hard to make out from a distance.
Given the name ‘Invisible House’, because it’s easily missed, it is often surrounded by mist and camouflaged by the landscape.
Though its current owner, art dealer Steven Nasteski, purchased the home for $3 million in 2018, it was originally owned by Australian film producer and big-time Hollywood director Alex Proyas.
“Invisible House was built between 2010 and 2012,” says owner Steven. “I’m told it was conceptualised after a dream the original owner had had to build a modern home in the middle of nowhere.”
The home is ultra modern yet reflective of the land. Picture: Michael Nicholson
Article repurposed from 7 of the world’s craziest clifftop houses by Erinna Giblin. Author at realestate.com.au.
