2026 Elemental Design Group, Inc.
The Best Version of Your Home Starts Outside
More California homeowners than ever are making a deliberate choice to stop waiting for the right time to move, and to start living their best life in the home they already love. It is a choice rooted not in compromise, but in clarity: that the life you want is already within reach, and that your outdoor space is the most personal and powerful place to build it.
A custom swimming pool, designed as part of a cohesive landscape by a licensed landscape architect, does more than add beauty. It reshapes how you experience your property every single day. Morning swims. Weekend gatherings. Quiet evenings by the water. It becomes the center of a life well lived and one of the most meaningful investments you can make in your home.
At Elemental Design Group, we design pools that are inseparable from the land, the light, and the life of the people who live there in Carmel, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, California.
Contact Rhadiante
Swimming Pool Design as Landscape Architecture
- Why a licensed landscape architect designs a better pool than a pool contractor, every time:
Most swimming pools are designed by pool contractors working from a limited catalog of shapes, finishes, and configurations. The result is often a pool that sits in a backyard rather than belonging to it, disconnected from the home’s architecture, the slope of the land, the movement of sunlight, and the overall vision of the outdoor space.
A landscape architect approaches a pool project from an entirely different vantage point.
At Elemental Design Group, every swimming pool begins with a rigorous site analysis. We study topography, drainage patterns, solar orientation, sightlines, and the relationship between indoor and outdoor living spaces. We evaluate the full environment – not just the rectangle of water.
From that foundation, we design a pool that is architecturally integrated with everything around it: the hardscape, the plantings, the structures, the lighting, and the custom fabricated elements that make each project unmistakably ours. The pool becomes a feature of the landscape and the landscape becomes a feature of your life.
This is not a pool installation with some plants around it. This is landscape architecture, with a pool at its heart.
Everything Your Pool Project Requires. One Firm. One Vision.
From the first sketch to your first swim, Elemental Design Group manages every phase. We serve as the General Contractor so you never have to coordinate across multiple vendors.
Design & Architectural Drawings
Full-service site analysis, conceptual design, and complete architectural drawings tailored to your property, your aesthetic, and how you intend to live in the space.
Site Engineering
Slope assessment, grading, retaining wall design, and drainage solutions are especially critical for the hillside and canyon properties. We turn challenging terrain into extraordinary opportunity.
Pool & Surround Integration
We design the pool in concert with everything around it: decking, coping, hardscape, planting, underwater and ambient lighting, water features, and fire features into a single composition.
Custom Fabrication
Our signature use of hammered copper, custom metalwork, stone, tile, and wood brings a level of artisanal detail to pool surrounds that simply cannot be sourced from a contractor's catalog. Each custom element is designed specifically for your project.
Full Installation Oversight
Elemental Design Group manages the entire installation process: contractor and materials selection, scheduling, quality oversight, and project completion. You work with one team, one point of contact, and one standard of excellence throughout.
Work Directly with the Landscape Architect Who Designs Your Pool
CA Landscape Contractor License #926561 | 30+ years serving California homeowners
When your design is developed, Rhadiante develops it. Her design philosophy, rooted in harmony between structure, nature, and human experience, is what makes every Elemental pool feel like it was always meant to be there.
Her work draws on deep expertise in site engineering, Feng Shui landscape principles, custom fabrication, and the unique microclimates and coastal conditions of California’s Central Coast and Silicon Valley. The pools she designs are not just beautiful. They are right for the land, right for the home, and right for the people who will live in them for decades. >> Contact Rhadiante.
Featured Pool Projects
A selection of completed projects – each one a bespoke response to a specific site, client, and vision.
New Space on a Santa Cruz Slope
Through careful terracing and precise site engineering, Elemental created a series of distinct, connected spaces that flow naturally down the hillside. The swimming pool features a sheer descent water feature and is flanked by a pair of custom copper fire bowls that draw the eye across the water. Custom hammered copper and metalwork details echo the home’s rich wood balcony above. At night, the space transforms — underwater lighting, fire, and the forest canopy create something that is difficult to put into words.
>> View Project
Mediterranean Pool Landscape in Los Altos
Elemental designed and installed the complete front and back yards, centering the design on a 20-foot swimming pool with clean contemporary lines and an in-ground jacuzzi. Travertine paving, lush native Mediterranean flora including fan palms, drought-tolerant colorful plantings, and an umbrella-shaded raised dining patio for ten complete the composition. The result is a private retreat that transports you without a flight, without a hotel, and without a maintenance crew.
>> View Project
Pool Design Elements We Incorporate
Every Elemental pool is a custom composition. Here is a selection of the elements we design, integrate, and install.
Hillside & Slope Engineering
Specialized terracing, retaining wall, and grading solutions that make challenging sites exceptional
Infinity & Negative Edge Pools
Designed to dissolve the boundary between water and landscape, engineered to your site's sightlines
Sun Shelves & Wading Areas
Shallow entry features that invite lounging, family use, and effortless transition between water and deck
Integrated Jacuzzi & Spa
Seamlessly incorporated into the overall pool design, not bolted on as an afterthought
Fire Bowls & Fire Features
Copper, steel, and stone fire elements that create warmth, ambiance, and visual focus, especially powerful at night
Custom Pool Decking & Coping
Travertine, natural stone, tile, and custom concrete selected and detailed to harmonize with the full landscape
Underwater & Landscape Lighting
Layered lighting design that transforms the pool from daytime retreat to nighttime destination
Sheer Descent & Waterfall Features
Custom water movement elements that bring sound, motion, and drama to the pool environment
Native & Drought-Tolerant Planting Surrounds
California-appropriate, climate-sensitive planting that frames the pool with beauty and requires minimal water
How We Work
Every project begins with a no-cost phone consultation directly with Rhadiante. No forms, no sales reps. From there, we handle everything: on-site assessment, site survey, due diligence on permits and municipal requirements, conceptual design, full construction drawings, and complete installation oversight. We serve as your General Contractor, coordinating all trades and passing our wholesale pricing directly to you at no markup. Your only job is to tell us what you love. Ours is to build it.
What Our Clients Say
Swimming Pools for California's Most Discerning Homeowners
Elemental Design Group designs and installs custom swimming pools and landscape architecture projects throughout California’s Central Coast, Silicon Valley, and the greater Bay Area. Whether your property is a coastal Monterey estate, a Carmel Valley retreat, a Silicon Valley residence, or a wooded Santa Cruz Mountain home, we bring the same level of bespoke attention to every project and every site.
Monterey County
Monterey · Carmel · Carmel Valley · Pebble Beach · 17 Mile Drive · Cypress Point · Pacific Grove · Big Sur
Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz · Aptos · Capitola · Boulder Creek · Santa Cruz Mountains · Watsonville
Santa Clara County
Saratoga · Los Gatos · Monte Sereno · Los Altos · Los Altos Hills · Cupertino · West San Jose · Morgan Hill
San Mateo County
Atherton · Woodside · Portola Valley · Menlo Park · Hillsborough · Burlingame Hills · Emerald Hills
Talk Directly with Rhadiante
It Starts With a Call. It Ends With Something Extraordinary.
If you are ready to transform your outdoor space into something you never want to leave, we are ready to begin.
Licensed Landscape Architect · Member ASLA · Serving California since 1992