Grace La Dolfina
ShareThis collection of 32 villas and apartments in Argentina is part of a new hotel and residential complex being developed by Grace Hotels and Adolfo Cambiaso, the world’s number one polo player. La Dolfina Grace will be located alongside the exclusive La Dolfina Polo Club, a stunning 465-hectare estate south of Buenos Aires.
Since the performance of the horse is as important as the skill of the polo player, we looked to the equestrian world for inspiration. We found it in the work of the 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, the forefather of motion pictures. Muybridge used a stop-motion technique to demonstrate for the first time that a galloping horse momentarily lifts all four legs off the ground.
The architecture of the villas embodies this dynamic sequence of motion. The contraction and expansion of a galloping horse is expressed in concrete butterfly roofs that seem to float above the vast Argentine pampas. Red brick walls, raw concrete and timber cladding allude to the traditional architecture of local ranches, farms, and stables, reinforcing the strong sense of place.