Lagoon pools and beach entries — design and build

Beach entries, Baja shelves and tanning ledges

A beach entry slopes gently into the pool, like a shore. A Baja shelf, also called a shallow ledge or tanning ledge, is a wide, flat area of low water at one side. You can sit or lie on it in the water, or set a lounger on it. Both suit children, older guests and anyone who wants to rest in the water.

We plan where the shallows go in relation to the sun, the shade, the terrace and the view, and how they meet the deeper swimming water.

Options on a shallow ledge

A shallow ledge suits features that are seen up close. Electrical connections, isolation, earthing and earth-leakage protection for them are carried out by a licensed electrician, as agreed with you.

• Air massage: many air jets set across the ledge
• Projection from above, which looks most striking on shallow water
• Fibre-optic lighting, which also looks good in the shallows. It is not a set of LEDs: light from a source outside the pool is carried through fibres to many small points.

Skimmer lagoon or overflow lagoon

This is the main decision, and it shapes the whole design.

An overflow lagoon looks most natural and has no dirty waterline. For the full lagoon effect, a skimmer is not the right choice. We weigh both options against your site, the architecture and how the pool will be used, and help you choose.

• Skimmer lagoon: the water sits a little below the surround and is drawn off through skimmers. It is simpler to design and build, but a waterline stays visible on the slope.
• Overflow lagoon: the water sits level with the beach and spills into a channel, then into a balance tank. Water and beach meet with no visible edge. It is more involved, with the channel, the tank, more pipework and room for the equipment.

Finish, colour and seating in the shallows

In shallow water the finish is seen up close and felt underfoot, so colour and texture matter more than in deep water. Shallow zones were rarely built in the past, partly because people walked on smooth ceramic tile. A textured exposed-aggregate finish makes them practical and attractive. It feels different underfoot from smooth glazed tile, so the surface on these zones should be chosen with this in mind.

Light, sand-toned PebbleCrete finishes give the look of a beach, and the deeper zones can move to blue.

The cases below are published projects. Our part was finishing or renovation rather than the design, and at The Talay we also advised on the beach entry. Each case says what we did.

• Colour zones from the beach entry to the deeper water
• Finish on shallow areas, steps and ledges, chosen from samples set out on site
• Built-in seating and loungers in the shallows, and in-pool (swim-up) bars, which we build and finish
• Sunken seating areas and jacuzzi zones beside the lagoon

What to send for a first discussion

Send us these details and we can talk through the options.

• Drawings or a site plan, or photos if the pool already exists
• The location, and the approximate size of the pool and the area for the shallows
• Whether you lean towards a skimmer or an overflow lagoon, if you know
• Whether you want us to design and build, or to work with your builder