Quilotoa Shalalá Overlook, Zumbahua, Ecuador

Cantilevering over Quilotoa Crater Lake, some 13,000 feet above sea level, the structure gives its visitors the illusion of flying.

Quilotoa Shalalá Overlook, Zumbahua, Ecuador

Architects Javier Mera Luna, Daniel Moreno Flores, and Jorge Javier Andrade Benítez designed this vertigo-inducing overlook, which is perched on the edge of the nearly two-mile-wide crater of a volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes.

Spasm Design’s Khopoli House, Khopoli, India

Mumbai firm Spasm Design took a cue from the basalt outcroppings that dot India’s Maharashtrian countryside in order to create the minimalist Khopoli House. The villa’s basalt slabs, formed from ancient volcanic activity, emerge organically from the cliff and dramatically frame the distant mountains.

Spasm Design’s Khopoli House, Khopoli, India

The use of concrete and basalt was dictated by Maharashtra’s extreme climate—overwhelmingly wet during monsoon season but arid during India's long dry season.

Arkibúllan’s Gufunes Cemetery Offices, Reykjavík, Iceland

This basalt-clad building, devised by the Icelandic architecture firm Arkibúllan, was the first of many contemporary additions to Reykjavík’s Gufunes cemetery. The basalt comes from the region's Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

Arkibúllan’s Gufunes Cemetery Offices, Reykjavík, Iceland

The two-story structure comprises three interwoven volumes, which house offices and rooms for the churchyard staff.

Földes Architects’ Kemenes Volcano Park Visitor Center, Celldömölk, Hungary

This Budapest-based studio designed a hulking testament to Hungary’s volcanic past in the shadow of Ság Hill—a five-million-year-old former volcano. The firm utilized industrial materials such as Cor-Ten steel and charcoal-gray concrete.

Földes Architects’ Kemenes Volcano Park Visitor Center, Celldömölk, Hungary

Guests are greeted by a transcendent five-story atrium that concludes in a small skylight in the center’s roof, purposefully mimicking the crater of a volcano.

Barbosa & Guimarães Architects’ Municipal Pool Complex, Povoação, Portugal

A charcoal-hued pool complex rises from the ashes of a former sports field in Povoação, Portugal—a town know for its  volcanic beach. Slabs of monolithic-sized basalt rock emerge from the nearby hillside and run alongside the slope as if a continuation of it.

EDAA’s Casa Meztitla, Tepoztlán, Mexico

Perched in the foothills of Tepozteco Mountain and surrounded by blooms of bougainvillea, this residence is clad in volcanic stone and lush pine. The natural materials help the home blend seamlessly into the setting.

Barbosa & Guimarães Architects’ Municipal Pool Complex, Povoação, Portugal

A green roof tops the structures, which are punctuated by small porthole windows that dot the interiors with light.

EON’s Mt. Hekla Museum, Rangárþing ytra, Iceland

The architecture firm EON transformed a former farm into this geological museum, set in the shadow of Iceland’s volcanic Mt. Hekla. The 6,500-square-foot building begins with a subterranean descent into a cave beneath the valley’s lava fields, which takes visitors through the history of Iceland’s most volatile volcano.

EDAA’s Casa Meztitla, Tepoztlán, Mexico

The house, which occupies only a small section of the rural plot it sits on, has employed an ambitious rainwater-harvesting system to encourage sustainability.

EON’s Mt. Hekla Museum, Rangárþing ytra, Iceland

The museum’s standout feature is a 20-foot-tall folded lava façade, which draws upon traditional Icelandic building methods.