Light, Shadow, and the Poetics of Home was awarded the Architecture MasterPrize in the Residential Exterior Photography category, recognising Holfeld's evocative interpretation of Xavier Corberó’s extraordinary residence.

 

Conceived by the Catalan sculptor Xavier Corberó (1935–2017), the property began with his acquisition of the historic Can Cargol in 1968 and evolved over decades into a vast, labyrinthine environment of arcades, courtyards, water, studios and living spaces. Originally conceived as a centre for artistic activity and artists’ residences, the complex ultimately became Corberó’s home, studio and a kind of inhabitable sculpture—a physical manifestation of his creative imagination.

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Rather than documenting the residence as architecture, Holfeld approaches it as an artwork in its own right. His photographs isolate its repeating arches, passages, stairways, light and shadow, transforming architectural details into abstract compositions that suggest movement, passage and transcendence. The recurring arch becomes a visual threshold between spaces and states of being, reflecting Holfeld’s wider interest in architecture as an emotional and psychological experience rather than a static object.

 

Through an instinctive, painterly approach, Light, Shadow, and the Poetics of Home reveals a more intimate reading of Corberó’s vision: a home not simply as a place of habitation, but as a space of imagination, memory and possibility.