Iceland has become quite the tourist destination for world travelers thanks to its ethereal landscapes, amazing history, unique culture, and unspoilt views of the Northern Lights. It’s the Northern Lights that draw eco-conscious travelers to the breathtaking Ion Hotel by Minarc Architects.

The hotel was designed to provide visitors with an unobstructed view of the otherworldy surroundings while itself blending into the landscape. Emerging from the mossy mountain like a natural rock outcropping, the Ion Hotel could almost be mistaken for a body of hardened lava extending out into the mountainous area.

An abundance of floor to ceiling windows were designed to let in natural light while allowing an optimized view of the hotel’s settings. A glassed-in lounge at the building’s terminus lets visitors gaze out on the utterly exquisite Northern Lights after the sun goes down.

But the Ion isn’t all about looks; it is also a decidedly Earth-friendly place to spend a vacation. The luxury hotel uses locally-sourced materials included repurposed natural materials like lava and driftwood. The huge windows cut down on the building’s electricity consumption by reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Local customs and culture inspired the interior design of the hotel; nods to the country’s history and notable features can be seen in every area of the building. When locally-sourced materials are not available, Fair Trade products are used instead. And as a truly exceptional feature, the hotel utilizes the abundant surrounding natural hot springs as a source of clean geothermal heating and hot water.

Steel shipping containers are the temporary homes of countless consumer items being transported all around the world. Items are packed into the cargo containers in their country of origin, then shipped to wherever they’re destined to be sold. Once they’re emptied at the appropriate port, many of these cargo containers simply sit around empty or get melted down for re-use. But recently, they’ve found new lives as homes and other types of buildings. Perhaps the two most appealing aspects of building with shipping containers are the affordability and the green construction factor: shipping container homes are far less expensive than new-material traditional homes, and reusing them rather than melting them down significantly reduces the carbon footprint of the steel containers.

But how does it feel to live in a shipping container? Most people who have built this type of home say that they’re sturdy and modern, and when several containers are connected the building can be just about any size, from a single-container loft to a multi-container family home. Some residents of shipping container homes and offices choose to display the origins of their buildings by leaving the facades alone. Others disguise the shipping containers by applying exteriors that make the recycled buildings look just like any other. Whether they’re rough around the edges or covered in cutting-edge design, shipping container homes are definitely going places. Click the thumbnails below for more images of and information on these amazing designs: