Commission XLI · Indian Wells
The Mesa House
MMXXIV
Commission XLIV · Las Palmas
Lap & reflecting pool · 2024
Photograph — François Halard for Halcyon
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Pool Atelier · Palm Springs · Est. MMVII
Eighteen years of pools designed to look as though they were always part of the house.
Halcyon designs and builds private pools in Palm Springs, Malibu, Montecito and the desert valleys beyond. We accept four commissions a year. The first conversation lasts an hour, the design takes a season, and the result tends to be photographed in better magazines than ours.
— A note from the studio
The best pools we have built are the ones our clients no longer notice — water that has become as natural to a courtyard as the stone around it. That is the standard.
— Disciplines
Stillness as architecture
Twelve-inch depth, perimeter overflow, and a dark plaster that turns water into a mirror. Best paired with a courtyard, a single olive tree, or the right facade.
From $180,000
Engineered for a view
Cantilevered weirs, engineered overflow troughs, and below-grade pump rooms that disappear into the hill. The horizon does the rest.
From $480,000
Twenty-five yards, considered
Long, narrow, properly proportioned. We design for the daily swimmer — wall turns to USA-S spec, automatic counter-current, and a low-glare tile that disappears underwater.
From $260,000
Pool, terrace & pavilion
A pool as the centre of a wider scheme — outdoor kitchen, pool house, landscape masterplan and irrigation infrastructure delivered under one programme, one principal, one contract.
From $1.6M
— Selected commissions, MMXXII–MMXXV
We will not show you a hundred pools that look the same. These are the ones that taught us something about light, stone, and the right depth.
Commission XLI · Indian Wells
MMXXIV
Commission XXXVIII · Montecito
MMXXIV
Commission XXXII · Bel Air
MMXXIII
Commission XXVII · Malibu
MMXXIII
Commission XXIII · Rancho Mirage
MMXXII
— Materials & finishes
A short list of materials we use repeatedly. Each chosen because it behaves well in California sun, against high mineral content, and over twenty years.
01 · Plaster
Reads as still water on the surface. The accepted standard for reflecting pools. Twenty-year colour stability.
02 · Tile
Hand-pressed waterline tile. Made in Sausalito. The single material we will never compromise on, in any commission.
03 · Coping
Burgundy limestone, honed and bullnosed in-house. Cool to the touch, slip-resistant, ages to a deeper grey over time.
04 · Filtration
Twelve-year service life. Below 60 decibels at full draw. We install every pump in a sound-isolated below-grade vault.
05 · Sanitisation
Two-stage sanitisation. Lower chlorine residual than conventional pools. Better on the eyes, the hair, the surrounding plantings.
06 · A philosophy
No proprietary materials, no manufacturer kick-backs, no products we cannot stand behind in ten years.
— How a commission proceeds
I · Site visit We come to the property. We spend an afternoon. We listen to the wind, watch the light, and leave without selling anything.
II · Schematic A drawn proposal, in pencil and watercolour, presented at your kitchen table. No PowerPoint. No fee until you have approved the line.
III · Engineering Structural, hydraulic, electrical and geotechnical — all in-house. Permitting handled to the day of pour, not the day of inquiry.
IV · Construction A single crew on your property. A single principal you can call. Daily progress photographs, a site swept at the end of every shift.
V · Stewardship Quarterly service for the first year. A binder of materials, vendors, and warranties. A telephone number that is answered, in person, for the next twenty years.
— Studio
Halcyon was founded in 2007 by a hydraulic engineer and a landscape architect who could not find a pool builder willing to do what they wanted. We are still that small, still that particular, and still answer our own telephone.
We do not subcontract our excavation, our shotcrete, or our tile-setting. We do not run more than four commissions in any calendar year. We are members of the Society of Watershape Designers and the Genesis Construction School.
Licensed in California (C-53, B). Insured to $5M. AAA-rated with the State Contractors Board since founding.
Press
Architectural Digest · Wallpaper · The World of Interiors
Recognition
Watershape of the Year, 2021 & 2023
— Voices, in their own words
— Commission
By post: 1247 N Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262
By telephone: +1 760 555 0147
By email: studio@halcyonpools.com
We respond within five business days. Always to the principal, never to a coordinator.