Barton Creek · Austin
Barton Creek — Infinity-Edge Gunite Pool
A 38-foot pool cantilevered off a canyon rim, engineered to read level with a view that falls away beneath it.
The site problem
The lot ended at a cliff. Past the last few feet of buildable ground the land dropped into a wooded Barton Creek canyon — the reason the owners bought it, and the reason no pool wanted to go there. A conventional pool set back safely would have turned its back on the only view worth having. Set at the edge, it had to be held up by something, and it had to look like it was held up by nothing.
What we built
A gunite shell carried on a structural beam and drilled piers socketed into the limestone below the topsoil. The far wall is a true infinity edge: water spills a hair over a level lip into a hidden catch basin and recirculates, so the surface reads continuous with the canyon floor far behind it. The near two-thirds of the shell sits on grade; only the view wall floats.
We finished the interior in dark exposed pebble to deepen the water color, ran the waterline in a slim stone tile, and wrapped the visible beam in board-formed concrete so the structure reads as one poured object rather than a pool on a shelf. Uplighting under the cantilever makes the whole mass hover at dusk.
Specifications
| Size | 38 ft × 15 ft, 3.5–6 ft depth |
|---|---|
| Construction | Gunite shell on drilled piers & structural beam |
| Finish | Dark exposed pebble interior, stone waterline tile |
| Features | 38 ft infinity edge, hidden catch basin, board-formed beam, cantilever uplighting |
| Timeline | 22 weeks (added structural engineering & pier drilling) |
| Cost band | $240,000–$275,000 |
The edge sits exactly level with the ridge — you can't tell where our water stops and the hills start.
— Marisol & Dev, Barton Creek
A hard site of your own?