How Ligia Cisneros and No. 9 Studio Turn a Miami Pool Deck Into a Room

In Miami, summer does not end so much as soften, and a pool deck that only works in July is a wasted room. No. 9 Studio designs its outdoor spaces for the whole year, built for year-round use, not just July, as the studio put it this summer.

The firm is the work of two Miami interior designers, Ligia Cisneros and Anasofia Guardia, who own it in equal shares. Cisneros, a co-owner and principal designer, studied interior design at SCAD and spent more than 13 years across interior design and the furniture industry before the studio opened: first at Perkins&Will, then more than six years at Clima Home and more than two at Elemento Living, a luxury outdoor design studio in Miami Beach, where she worked with designers and landscape architects on outdoor projects from schematic design to order.

That is where the outdoor rooms begin. Cisneros has written about leaving a showroom's floor pieces uncovered through a full Miami summer to see what sun, storms and salt air do to them. Her checklist starts with the hardware, because "marine grade stainless holds", then the powder coat on the aluminum, then the fabric, where she looks for solution-dyed acrylic, colored all the way through rather than printed on top. A deck that looks right on day one and wrong in year three is a deck that was specified on a screen.

A pool that works as a dining room

For a residence in Miami Beach, the brief was outdoor living at its fullest: dining, lounging and everyday retreat in one continuous space. The studio kept the palette light so it would stay crisp in the sun, then gave the deck an outdoor dining area, daybeds and a deep-seating lounge, so the whole deck lives like a room under the sky, not a patio with one job. Deep teal arrives in small doses, on upholstery and accents, enough to ground the white without taking it over.

Carrying the house outside

At a new-construction home in Pinecrest, the studio led the full interior design and then took the same hand outdoors, treating the pool deck and outdoor kitchen as another room of the house rather than an afterthought. The interior palette carried outside in finishes made to take sun, salt and daily use, and the pool tile was chosen to speak the language of the architecture instead of a standard poolscape. The layout follows how the family lives outside: cooking, entertaining, moving between indoors and out.

Nearby, at Pinecrest Woods, the outdoor spaces were planned as an extension of the house, with furniture arranged into distinct moments across the grounds and styled to keep the ease that outdoor living asks for.

In a Brickell tower, the same idea

The approach scales to a tower. For a condo building in Brickell, No. 9 Studio reworked a high-rise pool deck around how residents really use it, dividing it into lounge, dining and social seating zones, with a palette meant to read more boutique hotel than amenity space. Photorealistic renderings let the board see the finished deck before a single piece was ordered, and a full selections package specified every furnishing, fabric and finish.

A showroom for the outdoors

The furniture years come full circle in the studio's commercial work. For Clima Home, where Cisneros spent six years, and its Royal Botania showroom in Miami, home to the Belgian maker's outdoor pieces, the studio set limewashed grey walls against lush tropical layers, warm and sensory and unmistakably Miami. Clima Home furniture also anchored the alfresco dining setting the studio shared in the spring.

The studio, which turned one in 2026, now has a new-construction home underway in Naples and a custom luxury home, the Green Residence, due in 2027. Its own caption for that spring dinner table says what the outdoor rooms are for: warm nights and long dinners.

Highlights

Who is Ligia Cisneros?

Ligia Cisneros is a Miami interior designer and co-owner and principal designer of No. 9 Studio, which she runs with Anasofia Guardia. She previously worked at Perkins&Will, Clima Home and Elemento Living.

What outdoor spaces has No. 9 Studio designed?

Pool decks and outdoor living areas in Miami Beach, Pinecrest and a Brickell condo tower, plus a Pinecrest outdoor kitchen.

Who designed Clima Home's Royal Botania showroom in Miami?

No. 9 Studio handled the space planning, styling and art direction, drawings and project management.