8 Leading Designers Share Their Secrets for Constructing a Dreamy Pool Court

Explore ideas for creating a resort-like feel with imaginative shapes, art installations, and inspired furnishings

Outdoor pool with a stone pergola and lush green surroundings, featuring lounge chairs and a reflective water surface.
Working with Ferguson & Shamamian Architects and designer Madeline Stuart, James Doyle Design Associates brought old-world allure to a pool pavilion in a Los Angeles courtyard. Photo: LISA ROMEREIN

While Instagram-worthy infinity pools may have previously been all one needed for an outdoor oasis, discerning clients are going several steps further to replicate resort atmospheres at home. “Hospitality groups are trying to create an experience that feels as though it’s your own boutique villa. When you’re at your home, you’re trying to feel like you’re at the Aman,” says Workshop/APD principal Andrew Kotchen. “There’s a lot of cross-pollination between the two.” That ethos most notably spills over to the pools, which are being designed in the spirit of water features that just happen to be available for swimming.

Choosing the right location as well as experimenting with unexpected free-form shapes and rimless options are just a few of the expert techniques designers and architects gravitate toward to give the area new life.

Elegant backyard with a rectangular pool, loungers, and a pavilion surrounded by lush greenery and trees.
Working with Ferguson & Shamamian Architects and designer Madeline Stuart, James Doyle Design Associates brought old-world allure to a pool pavilion in a Los Angeles courtyard. Photo: LISA ROMEREIN

Placement

Where to site the pool varies by region. “If we’re doing a year-round home for somebody not in a four-season climate, we tend to put the pool off to the side, not front and center in every aspect of your view,” says Kotchen, noting the obvious aesthetic drawbacks of a covered pool in winter. But in areas where it’s warm all year long or for summer homes, pools can be more of a focal point.

Those with acreage to spare often position the pool away from the main residence, complete with a cabana, outdoor kitchen, and other amenities to make the area self-sustaining for a full day of activities. “With a larger piece of property, you can set the pool off as a destination,” says James Doyle, a landscape architect based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

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Accentuate a Transportive Pool Surround with These Resort-Like Furnishings and Accessories

Palinfrasca chair by Vincent Van Duysen for Molteni&C.

Photograph by COURTESY OF MOLTENI&C

Piu00f1a Colada outdoor jacquard by Rubelli.

Photograph by COURTESY OF RUBELLI

Rault pool house lantern by Bevolo.

Photograph by COURTESY OF BEVOLO

French Orangerie planter by Authentic Provence.

Photograph by COURTESY OF AUTHENTIC PROVENCE

Bradford side table by Bunny Williams Home.

Photograph by COURTESY OF BUNNY WILLIAMS HOME

San Michele chaise longue by Alexa Hampton for Woodard.

Photograph by COURTESY OF WOODARD

Hanging chair by Sasha Bikoff for Walters.

Photograph by COURTESY OF WALTERS

Ocean Master Mega Max parasol by Tuuci.

Photograph by COURTESY OF TUUCI

Beach towel by Frette.

Photograph by COURTESY OF FRETTE

Oceana chaise longue by Bannenberg & Rowell for Sutherland.

Photograph by COURTESY OF SUTHERLAND

Beach Hut fabric by No.9 Thompson.

Photograph by COURTESY OF NO.9 THOMPSON

Dharma table by Baxter.

Photograph by COURTESY OF BAXTER

Sicily vase by Ottolenghi for Serax.

Photograph by COURTESY OF SERAX

Aluminum contoured chaise by Walter Lamb for Brown Jordan.

Photograph by COURTESY OF BROWN JORDAN

Tallulah Palm beach towel by Matouk Schumacher.

Photograph by COURTESY OF MATOUK

Cosima table by Francis Sultana.

Photograph by ROBERT FAIRER; DAVID GILL GALLERY

Classic Jardins patio umbrella by Casa Cosima.

Photograph by COURTESY OF CHAIRISH
Wooden armchair with green cushion and woven panel design.
Abstract pattern with orange, white, and black squares creating a textured, woven tapestry effect.
Brass and glass lantern with a handle, featuring a candle inside.
Light blue square planter with four decorative finials and metal ring handles on each side, placed on a white background.
Round table with black and white striped top and intricate metal base.
Wicker chaise lounge with white cushions and red piping on a white background.
Hanging rattan chair with red cushions, featuring a circular design and suspended by a rope for indoor or outdoor use.
Large beige outdoor patio umbrella with a wooden pole and metal base, providing shade on a sunny day.
Blue and beige folded towel with a textured stripe design on a white background.
Wooden outdoor chaise lounge with white cushions, adjustable backrest, and sturdy frame, perfect for relaxing by the pool.
Close-up of woven fabric with blue, orange, and beige threads creating a grid pattern.
Round table with a black top and a light blue, modern base design.
Colorful abstract ceramic owl vase with various painted patterns and shapes on a white background.
Modern green outdoor chaise lounge with metal frame and woven backrest.
Blue and green towel with a botanical print featuring large green leaves and small berries on a light blue background.
Elegant glass coffee table with artistic metal frame and unique design, featuring curved lines and a modern aesthetic.
Orange beach umbrella with white fringes and a sturdy metal pole against a white background.
Wooden armchair with green cushion and woven panel design.
Abstract pattern with orange, white, and black squares creating a textured, woven tapestry effect.
Brass and glass lantern with a handle, featuring a candle inside.
Light blue square planter with four decorative finials and metal ring handles on each side, placed on a white background.
Round table with black and white striped top and intricate metal base.
Wicker chaise lounge with white cushions and red piping on a white background.
Hanging rattan chair with red cushions, featuring a circular design and suspended by a rope for indoor or outdoor use.
Large beige outdoor patio umbrella with a wooden pole and metal base, providing shade on a sunny day.
Blue and beige folded towel with a textured stripe design on a white background.
Wooden outdoor chaise lounge with white cushions, adjustable backrest, and sturdy frame, perfect for relaxing by the pool.
Close-up of woven fabric with blue, orange, and beige threads creating a grid pattern.
Round table with a black top and a light blue, modern base design.
Colorful abstract ceramic owl vase with various painted patterns and shapes on a white background.
Modern green outdoor chaise lounge with metal frame and woven backrest.
Blue and green towel with a botanical print featuring large green leaves and small berries on a light blue background.
Elegant glass coffee table with artistic metal frame and unique design, featuring curved lines and a modern aesthetic.
Orange beach umbrella with white fringes and a sturdy metal pole against a white background.

A pool can also serve an architectural function, with its solid frame doing double duty as a retaining wall to terrace an uneven landscape. “When I first decided to place the pool under the palm trees, the advice from Umberto Pasti was that it must be an aboveground design so as not to disturb the roots,” says designer Veere Grenney of the guidance he received from the writer and passionate gardener about the pool at his home in Tangier, Morocco. “While I was determined not to remove any trees, I also knew I didn’t want the look of an aboveground pool, so I designed the series of terraces to disguise this.”

Beautiful garden with lush greenery, a modern house, and a tranquil pool under a clear blue sky.
Workshop/APD used an infinity pool to tame an uneven landscape at its Courtyard House project in Nantucket, Massachusetts, featured in the firm’s recent monograph. Photo: READ McKENDREE

Shape

While rectilinear pools are often installed at traditional homes, modern architecture allows for more creative expressions, from mildly adventurous kidney shapes to undefinable forms. “The design of the pool has to be within the same flavor of the architecture,” declares landscape designer Edmund Hollander, whose firm is currently at work on an ultracontemporary residence with a pool best described as “trapezoidal.”

A health-conscious audience is driving demand for longer, leaner pools on a three-to-one ratio, shares Justin Quinn, a partner at James Doyle Design Associates, which just finished a Dallas project where the pool was part of an overall spa experience, complete with adjacent gym, steam room, and cold plunge. “I’ve had people with limited space say, ‘I’d rather have more length and make it narrower just so that I could do laps in my pool,’ ” adds Joe Nahem of Fox-Nahem, a self-professed “lapper” who has also had multiple requests for adjacent ice plunges, which are “popular with people who do saunas.”

Luxury villa with a pool surrounded by lush greenery and lounge chairs under a blue sky and puffy clouds
A pool with views overlooking the Caribbean island of Mustique designed by Veere Grenney. Photo: DAVID OLIVER

Color Palette

Although ubiquitous building material gunite can be customized to almost any color, designers have found homeowners in more tropical environments gravitate toward lighter hues that reflect the bright sky; those in seasonal communities such as the Hamptons prefer richer blues, grays, or greens. “Darker pools tend to be more elegant; they feel more like a reflecting pool,” says Hollander. “They illuminate beautifully in the evening.”

Alvise Orsini agrees: “I don’t like pools that resemble pools.” The Venice-born designer, who installed a Roman-inspired pool made using dark blue gunite to mimic the water off Capri at his own 1920s Italianate house in Dallas, adds, “I like it when it feels almost as if it was a natural pond.”

Modern house with large windows beside a long, reflective pool, surrounded by green grass and trees, under a blue sky.
Designers Fox-Nahem, architect Blaze Makoid, and landscape designer Edmund Hollander collaborated on this Hamptons pool surrounded by Paola Lenti furniture. Photo: Peter Murdock

Furnishings are the simplest way to play with palette, but finding the right balance is key. “Too many things by a pool clutter the space,” says designer Alessandra Branca, who has a perfectly appointed pool in the Bahamas. “I love nature to command the colors, so I do choose neutral furnishings and let the flowers and plants inspire the soft material choices.”

No matter if the dream is an exotic fantasy or a mind-body refuge, a design point of view remains critical to the equation. “Everything changed in the past few years, when landscapes went from places to look at to places to live in,” declares Hollander. “It’s got to be an oasis, something that gives a sense of peacefulness. But also, when it’s not a pool, it needs to become a work of art.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Spring Issue under the headline “Pooled Resources.” Subscribe to the magazine.