The INDE.Awards are the Indo-Pacific’s leading celebration of architecture and design excellence. Each year, the program recognises projects and professionals who shape the built environment with creativity, integrity and innovation. The 2025 edition continues this legacy, honouring both established and emerging talent across the region.

Within The Photographer – Residential category, supported by Image Makers Association Australia, the spotlight turns to those who translate architectural spaces into enduring visual stories. This year, Sydney-based photographer Barton Taylor was recognised for his exceptional interpretation of Cake House, a project that redefines the Australian beach home while retaining its local character and memory.

Barton Taylor is a commercial photographer based in Sydney, specialising in architectural and interior design photography. His practice is grounded in patience, precision and an eye for natural light. Taylor’s process is one of immersion, often finding him crouched under stairs or balanced in garden corners, waiting for the perfect moment when light transforms space into story. While his approach carries humour and humility, his commitment to the craft remains deeply serious and refined.

His winning project, Cake House, documents the transformation of a beloved coastal dwelling. More than a simple renovation, the home has been sympathetically reimagined while preserving the defining roofline, long used by surfers as a landmark along the shore. The project reflects an ethos of sustainability through recycled materials and passive house principles, demonstrating a deep respect for both environment and heritage.

Taylor’s photography captures the contrast that defines Cake House: a cool, shaded refuge from the summer heat and a space open to the light and rhythm of the beach beyond. His lens lingers on the tactile warmth of timber, the grain of board-formed concrete, and the subtle imprints of the original structure. Through each image, he translates architectural intention into emotion, allowing viewers to feel the calm and continuity embedded within the space.

Through Cake House, Barton Taylor demonstrates the vital role of photography in interpreting and preserving design. His work reveals the nuanced relationship between architecture, light and human experience, capturing the integrity of the project while infusing it with poetic resonance.

As the INDE.Awards 2025 Photographer – Residential Winner, Taylor stands among the region’s leading image-makers, offering a reminder that architectural photography is both documentation and art form. His images bridge design and emotion, making the essence of Cake House not only visible but deeply felt.

Architect/Designer: Alexander Symes Architect, Inn. Studio, Skylar Construction