The World’s Most Celebrated Polo Player Breaks into the Design World

In the lush La Barra coastal region of Punta Del Este, Uruguay, the Fasano Las Piedras development is growing with the addition of farmhouse estates, country residences, and villas near the Brazilian hospitality brand’s five-star hotel, beach club, and championship golf course. The development’s architecture and interior design are helmed by Uruguayan architect Carolina Proto of Estudio Obra Prima. However, for its aptly entitled Polo Villas, Proto has a design partner—the world’s most famous polo player, Nacho Figueras. These homes, in three-to-five-bedroom configurations, offer panoramic views of the polo field, which Figueras also consulted on.

For many reasons, the collaboration is personal to Figueras. Not only did he meet José Auriemo Neto, the executive chairman of the developers behind the project, JHSF, back when he was modeling for Ralph Lauren, but his wife’s godfather also used to own the Las Piedras property. “My wife grew up going there, and swimming in that swimming pool,” he tells Surface.

Neto called Figueras in 2019 to tell him that they were looking to breathe new life into the Fasano Las Piedras. “They already had the Arnold Palmer golf course but they were hoping that we would incorporate polo. I started working with the team on the polo field—where, what, why, when—and then working with Carolina on what we call the polo villas.”

They coupled this with thoughts about the lifestyle of the type of person who would live in Fasano. From there, they designed. “My wife is an interior designer,” he says of Delfina Blaquier, also a famed equestrian. “We had a lot of back and forth with Carolina and her team. Her aesthetic and ours are quite similar.”

The architecture and interiors collaboration was extensive. “We began by asking, ‘what does a polo villa mean? How do we as a polo family live? How do horse people live? What is important to us?’” They took into account the amount that they travel—and took into consideration the fact that they have four kids coming in and out of the house, “with dogs and surf boards and polo boots.”

The polo villas maximize their position along the polo field and golf course. “It is a very beautiful place that has this undulation to the land. There are trees everywhere, and beautiful sunsets. For us, the feeling of living both inside and outside was very important,” he says of the floor-to-ceiling windows. “We focused on making sure that it almost felt like you could be inside or outside at once.”

Inside, both Proto and Figueras tapped into local materials. “Colors, textures, and materials all have to be local,” he says, “and that’s something Carolina does very well. In the polo villas, the stone on the floor is from the region. The wood is natural. There isn’t much intervention. It seems like it all belongs.”

Figueras approached the polo villas with a summery aesthetic, though he notes that what Fasano offers in Uruguay is now a year-round proposition. “Fasano is a magical place, in a very beautiful country like Uruguay, in a cosmopolitan destination like Punta del Este, which is loved by Uruguayas, Argentinians, and Brazilians. Now, more than ever, it’s drawing Americans and Europeans. It’s becoming the Saint-Tropez or Ibiza of South America.”

This, he feels, aligns with the identity of polo. “Winston Churchill used to say that polo is a passport to the world,” he quotes. “There is a big polo community growing in Uruguay. Fasano has a prime polo field made by one of the most amazing polo field architects in the world, Alejandro Battro.” It connects him even further to the project, and gives him a sense of belonging.

It was important to Figueras that nothing was too precious, though.  “We wanted to create something that was a beach house, but also a home for horse people and golfers. We didn’t want to create a place that felt too pristine or that you couldn’t touch. You will come back all sandy, or with dirt in your golf shoes.”

Ultimately, they’ve made something chic and functional—and it’s not their first time. “Both my wife and I care a lot about architecture,” he concludes. “If I had not been a polo player, I think I would have been an architect. I love it very much. You can see that in my stables in Argentina.” In 2017, Figueras commissioned Estudio Ramos for polo horse stables—an early indicator of his pristina design sensibilities.