Just like there’s more than one way to make chocolate chip cookies, there are plenty of ways to build concrete homes with satisfying results. Here’s a synopsis of the main options on the market.

Fu-Tung Cheng designed this concrete home currently under construction on the island of Culebra off the coast of Puerto Rico, smack dab in an area known as Hurricane Alley. Because of its location on a wind-swept mountainside, the house has to be built to withstand hurricane forces and concrete was the logical choice.

For the first time since 1994, concrete provided the vast majority of the structural elements for The New American Home (TNAH), the official show home of the National Association of Home Builders that debuted during the 2004 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.

The ancient Romans had the right idea. If you want a structure to last for centuries, shelve the sticks. Build it out of concrete.

And although most Europeans grasped onto this concept eons ago — their dwellings are built to be passed on from generation to generation — it’s taken the less frugal Americans awhile longer to literally bring the concept home.