If you don't mind the heights, these villas provide breathtaking views of everything from the Argentine Calamuchita Valley to the Slovenian Kamnik Alps.

If there is one thing that people who have acrophobia are aware of, it is that cliffside homes weren't made for them. Fortunately, anybody can get a good look at some of these homes without having to step inside thanks to a new book from Lannoo Publishers. In Living on the Edge: Houses on Cliffs, written by Agata Toromanoff, the author examines more than 40 homes constructed in what most people would consider "unbuildable" areas. According to Toromanoff, "I usually focus on features that make architecture exceptional in my publications." "Building in the most difficult areas, sometimes in the center of a pristine environment, is what living on the edge implies." Creating these dwellings is all the more astounding given the physical difficulty and the need to find a way to interact with nature without harming the ecosystem. According to Toromanoff, "it is exciting to examine the most recent instances, watch how different architects throughout the world come up with brilliant concepts, and witness the way the profession progresses." Find nine cliffside homes below, where life is not for the weak of the heart.

OFIS Architects' Alpine Shelter Skuta

Toromanoff describes this property in Zgorne Jezersko, Slovenia, as "the 12-square-meter Alpine Shelter Skuta looks fantastic, plunged into the rocky peaks of the Slovenian Kamnik Alps." The building was created by OFIS Architects with students in a Harvard Graduate School studio to create a usable shelter at extremely high elevations. It was then prefabricated and helicopter-delivered to the mountain.

BCW Collective's Bivacco Brédy

According to Toromanoff, this BCW Collective-designed mansion in the Vertosan Valley of Italy is the ideal residence for anyone who enjoys the mountains and wants a vacation from everyday life. It is cantilevered over a rock slab. The hut's design prioritized functionality, adaptability, and little environmental impact.

Modscape's Cliff House

Living on the Edge's second half focuses on creative ideas and unbuilt cliffside dwellings. According to Toromanoff, Modscape's Cliff House is "their theoretical response to clients who have approached them in quest of a project dedicated to particularly difficult coastal plots." The house would have five stories and spectacular ocean views if it were built.

Alex Hogrefe's Cliff Retreat

This house was created by Visualizing Architecture's Alex Hogrefe to investigate "the insertion of architecture into a sensitive terrain," albeit it has not yet been built. The hotel Cliff Retreat, which was designed to cling to an Icelandic cliff's edge, merges with its surroundings.

Marià Castelló and José Antonio Molin's Concrete House

Marià Castelló and José Antonio Molin created this brutalist house in Port de la Selva, Spain, that clings to the mountains. According to Toromanoff in the book, “Pure concrete was picked to fit the geological features as well as to make the construction sturdy and limit the maintenance.”

Alarciaferrer Arquitectos' Casa MF

Toromanoff describes Casa MF, a two-volume linear residence by Alarciaferrer Arquitectos, as "a concrete house taking on precise geometric lines that cannot be more distinct from its untamed location." The Argentinean residence has two floors, the upper of which is cantilevered over the mountains and is mostly used for common spaces, and the bottom of which features bedrooms and a pool.

By Collective Project, Lakehouse

In Hyderabad, India, a house perched over the Durgam Cheruvu Lake is defined by its stacked volumes. Floor-to-ceiling windows contrast with a steel frame covered in local granite to create a house that seems both very weighty and like it is flying.

Triangular Architects' PR House

This home by Triangular Arquitectos is located in Cunco, Chile, and features concrete retaining walls that have been used to help shape the landscape. The architects' main goal was to frame the view, which led to a design that was full of geometric shapes.

OOAK Patio House

The Patio House, a residence in Karpathos, Greece, was created by OOAK Architects Johan Annerhed, Maria Papafigou, and Marie Kojzar as a getaway for a family with young children. The house is spectacularly placed on textured cliffs that look out over the Aegean Sea and is approximately 22 hours by boat from Athens. The structure was created to seem balanced in its surroundings, not to blend in.