There was a time when modernism was at odds with the organic designs of nature. As eco-consciousness has taken over the minds of the public, it has also spilled over into the design world, resulting in a new realm of modernist, green designs. From eco-friendly building materials to designs that minimize water and electricity use, these eight homes elegantly combine the stylish and sustainable.

Cozy Concrete Home

With concrete walls and living roofs, this stunning home by A Cero combines modern aesthetics with eco-friendly touches. The result is a seamless blending of contrasts: vivid earth tones balance the somber gray, white and black interior tones while lush grass softens the edges of  hard concrete.

Reclaimed Rough Lumber House

Using reclaimed old-growth softwood beams from buildings that no longer stand, this design by Omer Rarbel blends the old and the new in an unforgettably eye-catching manner. The rugged lines from the massive, colorful wood beams provide a perfect contrast with the hard, gray concrete walls. The end result is a home that resembles an old-growth forest sprouting up beside a rocky cliff face.

Cantilevered Bio Villa

While this design appears somewhat basic from the outside, it is actually a complex feat of bio engineering. The architects of Cloud 9 worked to make the building appear to be made from one single wall that twists and turns from the underground garage all the way to the concrete sloped roof. The softly titled ceiling allows the building to be open throughout the home, letting in ample natural light. It also provides easy access to the rooftop plants, so watering is as simple as walking outside.

Pool Cooled House

The water in this gorgeous home is so stunning that it makes the design itself a work of art, but rather than just serving as a design gimmick, the architects at Wallflower opted to use the ponds as a simple way to cool the house as it sits under the hot Singapore sun. The ponds flow silently and beautifully throughout the home, acting as a heat sink keep the bedrooms and kitchen cool throughout the year.

Sustainable Rainforest Retreat

While this home looks incredibly contemporary, it was actually constructed with a concrete foundation and steel frame that were already in place, but long abandoned. The architects at SPG incorporated these factors into the design, along with the timber that was initially displaced for the building’s construction. To make the home even more eco-friendly, the house also has its own solar panels and a rainwater recycling system.

Recycled Steel, Concrete and Wood Townhouse

Like the Costa Rican retreat, this townhome reused part of the foundation from the building site to create a modernist, sustainable home. The architects at Studio A77 used discarded guard rails, highway dividers, bridge supports and recycled doors to remodel and rebuild this stunning townhouse. The new design is industrial, but eco-friendly and wonderfully open, offering ample natural light.

Wood Pallet Cargo Container Homes

Designers everywhere have been turning to recycled shipping containers to create inexpensive and sustainable homes and offices. But the creative minds at Infiniski decided to take the trend a step further by incorporating recycled wood pallets into the mix. The pallets aren’t only aesthetically pleasing, they are also a good way to add shade to the designs while still letting in light and ventilation.

Minimalist Desert Retreat

Designing a naturally climate-controlled home in the middle of the desert is no easy task, but its not beyond the skills of architect Lloyd Russell. He opted to use a rusted metal canopy to shade the house and patio, while still allowing wind to roll over the roof in order to let the home to cool naturally. The  rusty coloring is a perfect compliment to the desert setting, allowing the building to flow seamlessly with its natural environment.

There are few design concepts more widely integrated in modern architecture than the idea of openness. When architects work with open designs, they not only allow the residents more flexibility in their living space, they also create homes that feel more spacious and luxurious than their tightly closed-in counterparts.

Minimalist Box Home

This stunningly simple house by Primus Arkitekter of Denmark consists of a few interlocking boxes adorned with weathered wood on the exterior and plain white paint on the interior. The wooden outer walls provide a perfect contrast to the simple, modern interiors -a counterpoint which makes the small home seem far larger than it actually is.

Concrete and Wood Cabin

By combining cool concrete and warm wood, this cozy cabin by BAK Architects is ready to comfort residents all year long. Stairs, cabinets and furniture all seamlessly blend into the greater overall design, seeming to flow gently from the walls themselves. The use of seamed concrete meshes amicably with the grainy wooden slats and hints at stretching expanses of space that may just go on forever.

Open Concrete Box house

Like BAK Architects, designers at Architects Brauning understand that concrete doesn’t have to be a cold, unwelcoming material. Hard steel, brushed concrete and glass walls give this house a distinctively industrial feel, but the open interior, adorned with bright orange flooring and stacks of logs, gives it a warm, welcoming atmosphere –one heavy in contrasts. The sharp lines and inspired contrasts make the house distinctively modern, but still cozy enough to be called home.

Glass on Concrete Underground Home

It’s hard to create a room more open to the outside world than the glass-framed living space sitting atop this concrete home. Perhaps that’s why Alberto Baeza decided to counterbalance this highly visible upper level with the secure, private concrete bunker below. This concrete and glass masterpiece is a perfect setting for anyone who enjoys a great view but still wants to have plenty of privacy as they participate in their normal, day to day activities.

Bridge House

Architect Max Pritchard had quite a challenge ahead of him when presented with this stunning setting for a new home. How could he possibly build something that would allow the owners to enjoy the gently flowing stream, ancient red gum trees and rocky slopes of their property without disturbing any of the natural beauty?

His solution was an industrial-looking house on stilts that somehow manages to look perfectly in place with the serene setting. By gently nestling the home inside the small canyon, Pritchard was able to minimize its visibility from a distance. As you close in on the home, the simple and boxy design, covered in recycled metal, makes the structure almost appear like an abandoned railroad bridge, ensuring it still seems perfectly at ease in its setting.

High Desert Oasis

The slopping, rust-colored roofs of this dramatic desert home bring to mind images of antique barns of the Old West, but upon closer inspection, this design by Rick Joy is one hundred percent modern. Inside the rusted roof and rammed-earth walls are walls made entirely of glass, allowing residents to take in the picturesque views of snow-capped mountains. An edgeless pool is ready to help visitors cool down after a hike across the stunning desert landscape. As much as the home fits in with its surroundings, it also serves as an ideal escape from the area’s harsh realities.

Modular Modern Masterpiece

The pure simplicity of this tiny summer home is exactly what makes the design by Tommie Wilhelmsen so brilliant. By taking advantage of small nooks and crannies, he ensures there is adequate living spaces without isolating and cramping any areas of the small building. While many people would find the house a little too small for year-round enjoyment, it is precisely this quality that makes it such a welcome, comforting summer home –inviting residents to leave their worries, and extra possessions, elsewhere.

Lofted Combination Home and Office

Architects Angelo Bucci and Alvaro Puntoni took advantage of the severe drop off of this piece of property to create a refreshingly unique combination live-work space. Much of the house is hidden away below street level, giving the residents ample privacy. At the same time, the open heart of the design allows in ample light and fresh air, preventing any sense of isolation or stuffiness. One of the most distinct features of the design though is the massive, lofted office space hovering above the rest of the home and accessible only through a metal staircase. This concept is not only attractive, but it also helps keep a distinct separation between the home and office space, helping residents keep a strong distinction between their work and home life.

Modern Hillside Manor

Like the lofted home above, this Hollywood home takes full advantage of challenging natural topography. Designers at Xten Architecture used retaining walls and a massive hillside to create a private inner space that is still provided with natural light and air. On the other side of the building, the house juts out from the mountainside, offering unbelievable views of the city below with its floor-to-ceiling window walls.

Multi-Leveled Bookcase Home

Anyone with an affinity for books will instantly appreciate this architectural marvel devoted to literary extravagance. Architects at grupoSP designed this open-plan library home for some true book lovers who own enough books to fill three floors worth of shelves. Of course, the bookshelves aren’t the only interesting part of this floor plan. Floating metal mesh walkways, two full walls of windows and frequent gaps in the concrete walls allow ample mobility and privacy in the home while still taking full advantage of natural light.

There’s nothing like sharp, drastic lines and unexpected angles to attract attention to a modern home. While most home designs use only ninety degree angles on all corners inside and out, these designers keep your eyes on edge by moving beyond the standard right angle and embracing the power of its obtuse and acute alternatives.

Angular Exterior and Interior

Designers from Iroje Architects certainly appreciate the use of jagged lines and drastic angles, as evidenced in this gorgeous modern home. Every corner of this home is eye catching to the point where the design seems to have come from a strange science fiction cartoon series. The integration of so many differing building materials –everything from stone to wood to metal to concrete- only serves to further separate this design from our expectations of architectural realities.

Luxury Forest Retreat

This home in the Ozarks reflects the many trees surrounding it by branching off in just about every direction. Angles and shapes of all types are incorporated into this incredible modern design by Barton Phelps and Associates, yet the use of wood and stone help it blend in with its beautiful natural setting.

Mesa Masterpiece

Shining like a mirage amongst the unforgiving desert landscape, this metallic home a top a mesa in New Mexico juts far below the surface like an iceberg in the sand. Architect Steven Holl designed the jagged aluminum structure using a combination of 3D modeling and pre-fabrication techniques that were then moved to the location and installed into the underground foundations.

Sandcrawler Home

Someone must have just watched Star Wars before drawing up these plans, because this home by Apollo Architects seems to be leaning forward on one side suspiciously like to a Sandcrawler. The design not only conveys a sense of motion, but also maximizes livable space while still offering the residents a small, shaded front patio.

Fully Leveraged

The majority of angles in this country home are the average 90 degree variety, but the 45 degree tilt of the wing jutting above the garage make this cantilevered house by Lithuanian  architecture group Natkevicius seriously stand out from its countryside surroundings.

Staircase House

How do you maximize the natural light in a home while making rooftop relaxation as accessible as possible? Follow the steps of Japanese architects y + M and make the roof from a series of stairs with openings on each step to let the natural light flood in while still maintaining a high level of privacy. The design might not maximize interior space, but it does compensate by offering massive patio.

Dynamic Shade Structure

Inside and out, this mountain-shaped home is adorned with angular structures of all degrees and lengths. The architects from Australian firm Harrison and White used computer simulations to ensure natural light would reflect well on the interior from sunup to sundown.

Plan-Free Home

Most homes start with a detailed set of plans that provide exact specifications to the builders. Families generally don’t move until the entire home is complete. But architect Randy Brown decided this process just wasn’t right for his family. Instead, he and his family moved into the residence before the early phases of construction were completed and as a result, planning went out the window as he changed the design while it was still be built. This work-in-progress concept might not work for everyone, but Brown’s home is open, modern and completely customized to his specifications –things just about every contemporary architect aspires to.

Countryside Cottage

It may not be quaint, but that doesn’t make this country cottage any less cozy. The clean lines and elongated skylight make the design by Andrew Berman feel more spacious, open and airy than a standard home with the same small amount of square footage.

Modernized Vacation House

While the most common angles in this home are all ninety degrees, the number of right angles can vary throughout the day as the residents close or open the exterior windows. Additionally, architect Ira Koers’ idea of one exterior hallway to connect all of the rooms is a strikingly use of a square walkway.

When it comes to waterfront property, the beautiful views demand wide open spaces and most architects take a minimalist approach in order to prevent taking attention away from the stunning natural spaces. While there are ample excellent examples modern home designs these days, it seems these naturally stunning locations demand modernist design techniques more than any other location type.

Norwegian Coastal Cabin

Simple, modern and open in all directions, this one-story coastal cabin, designed by the aptly named Fantastic Norway architecture firm, is a perfect place to relax and enjoy the panoramic views of the Norwegian coastline. The design is not only eye catching, it is also functional, providing a selection of wind-protected alcoves to enable visitors to enjoy spending time outside without risking their comfort.

Stealth Stone Summer House

Another Norwegian beauty, this stone home by Jarmund/Vigsnæs was legally required to blend in with its surroundings in order to even get a permit. Fortunately, designers went beyond the basic requirements and created a strikingly stealth home that brilliantly blends stone, wood and glass.

Cliffhanger Beach Villa

Set just off the shores of Peru, this stunning vacation villa by Longhi Architects blends stone masonry foundations and ultra-modern upper-stories and seems to simultaneously stand out and blend in with the jagged rock formations below.

Slaughterhouse Beach Cliff House

Seamlessly blending Eastern and Western design methods, this Malibu beach home by Olsen Kundig Architects is incredibly open.  The stunning design allows residents to enjoy the amazing views of the Pacific without standing out too much on the gorgeous rocky coastline.

Home With Over 100 Windows

When a plot of land offers views that stretch from Santa Catalina Island to the Santa Monica Bay, the last thing a home needs is too many walls obstructing the scenery. Fortunately, architect Steven Kent understood the value of this scenery and designed this ultramodern home to be as open as possible –with over 100 windows to enjoy the amazing views.

Canadian Island Cabin

The clever use of angles in this design by Agathom Architects help this cabin appear small from the outside and expansive on the inside. The expansive living room opens up to a library, kitchen, dining room and patio, all of which offer stunning views from massive windows.

Zen Lake House

This U-shaped house just outside of Stockholm provides beautiful views of the outside lake from every room. Fire, air, water, and earth are all incorporated into the design by WRB Architects, allowing the residents to relax and feel at peace with their surroundings.

Drop Off House

Most waterfront houses are serene places to relax and enjoy nature, but this cliff-top house designed by KA Architects was created for someone with a morbid sense of humor. While the house does have a view of the water, the built-in diving board that leads to nothing but the rocks below.

We see advertisements every day, but few of them are creative or shocking enough to make us stop and take notice. These brilliant campaigns not only look impressive, but also grab the viewer’s attention long enough to let the message sink in. While you might not care about the product or cause being advertised in these ads, it’s hard to deny the genius involved with designing something so eye-catching.

100+ Unique Uses of Traditional Advertising Media

One of the most difficult challenges an advertiser faces is getting someone to pay attention to something they see every day. Making mundane billboards, benches, escalators, stairs, elevators and buses into interesting advertising spaces isn’t easy, but with a clever idea, even the most boring canvas can come alive.

16 Creative Billboards (and 15 More, and Yet 18 More): There are those that see billboards as distracting obstructions in city skylines and there are those that see potential greatness in these sky-high blank slates. These billboards show just how cool the space can be when the design involves just a little bit of creative insight.

15 Clever Bench Ads: When most people see an advertisement on a bench, they just plop down, but with inspired ads like these, people find it hard to just sit there, and instead take pictures and tell their friends.

15 Great Escalator& Stair Ads (and 15 Elevator Ads): Rather than just applying pictures or words to stairs, escalators and elevators, these creative ad campaigns play with the tiers, doors and movements, placing them at the top of their game when it comes to elevated advertising.

Transportation With Style: Bus ads are seen by pedestrians and drivers alike, but whereas most of these ads are forgotten almost immediately, the playful messages on these buses stick with viewers throughout the day.

Over 100 Great Guerrilla Marketing Movements

Guerrilla marketing is one of the most innovative forms of advertising. These playful and thought-provoking installations make the viewer feel strong emotions about what they are seeing, even if it revolves around a corporate message instead of a work of art.

What is guerrilla marketing?: For a better understanding of guerrilla marketing, and to enjoy some brilliant campaigns, this WebUrbanist exclusive, eight-part series is a must see. It covers the origins, corporations, nuances, social uses, types, and future of guerrilla marketing, along with answering that difficult question, “is guerrilla marketing right for you?”

22 Ads From Bizarre to Brilliant: Everyone from bookstores to condom manufacturers to laundry detergent companies, is in on the guerrilla marketing bandwagon these days, but that doesn’t make these ads any less entertaining.

14 Fun Urban Street Ads: These ads, often created by professional artists, tip toe the line between marketing and artwork. The result is visually-stunning ads that actually get people to stop and take note.

12 Extremely Effective Guerrilla Marketing Stunts (and 13 More): Unlike most forms of advertising, guerrilla marketing isn’t limited to traditional mediums and can even interact directly with the viewer. These galleries are filled with 25 effective guerrilla marketing campaigns that were attention-grabbing enough to get people to stop in the street.

10 Intense Public Guerrilla Marketing Posters: Marketers have used posters for centuries, but these 10 shocking ads use their specific installation locations to make a much more powerful statement than any picture could on its own.

15 Cool, Crazy and Innovative Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns (and 15 More): These guerrilla campaigns show just how varied the mediums can be when it comes to the art of advertising. With everything from shopping bags, billboards, subway installations, crosswalks and more, these ads get attention in almost every way possible.

Over 100 Effective Advertisements For Great Causes

Public service announcements, political organizations and charities often have small ad budgets and end up with less memorable marketing campaigns as a result. These campaigns show that a well-presented powerful message can get plenty of attention, even without a huge investment.

15 Great Green Ads (and 11 More, and Yet 29 More): These days, everyone knows the environment needs help. The trick is to move viewers from the realm of knowledge and inspire them to actually take action. These ads did just that.

15 Ingenious Humanitarian Subvertisements: The environment isn’t the only cause worthy of attention. These 15 ads inspire the average shopper to take action to help their fellow man, whether that means donating blood, food, money or time.

18 Creative And Bizarre Safe Sex Ads (and 20 More): With some schools still teaching abstinence only programs, safe sex ads are an important social contribution, helping to reduce unplanned pregnancies, and the spread of dangerous and deadly diseases.

20 Brave and Bold Advertisements

Advertisers have to carefully toe the line of socially acceptable messages and imagery, but sometimes they find a company willing to break the rules. These 20 ads crossed boundaries, in some cases resulting in effective communication with the audience, but not all of the advertisers were so lucky.

15 Cool and Crazy Controversial Advertisements: It takes guts for a company to use revolting imagery, graphic content or pro-drug messages to promote their message, but these 15 ads successfully pushed boundaries and came out ahead.

5 Examples of Guerrilla Marketing Gone Wrong: Of course, not all daring moves pay off. These 5 attempts at guerrilla ads not only failed miserably, but resulted in everything from resentment to bomb scares.