SMA+Design
Ovencraft, a commercial project in Phase 6, DHA, Lahore by SMA+Design

Ovencraft

LocationPhase 6, DHA, Lahore
Year2025
TypeCommercial
Area4 Marla
StatusUnder Construction

Four marla in Phase 6, DHA Lahore, and three levels of it. The ovens are in the basement. The cafe is at ground. The studio sits on the mezzanine, looking down into the room below it. A bakery is usually one floor with a counter across it. This one is a section: production underneath, the public in the middle, the work of making above.

From the street it is a screen. The upper level of the shopfront is a full-width run of close-spaced vertical slats, dark against green render, and behind it a glass front puts the whole ground floor on display. The name sits on the slats themselves, gold serif letters fixed to the screen rather than mounted on a board in front of it. At dusk the whole thing works the other way round: the light is inside now, and the slats break it into a rhythm before it reaches the pavement.

The room is one colour. Deep forest green runs across the walls and continues over the ceiling without a break, so the volume reads as a single mass rather than a set of surfaces meeting at corners. Everything else is set against it. Pale stone underfoot. Timber shelving on black steel frame. Timber chairs with tan leather. The counter is a single live-edge slab, its natural edge left intact, the one piece in the room that was not squared off.

The double-height space at the front is lit by one object. A custom pendant: a solid quarter-sawn white oak plank, eight feet long and twelve inches deep, hollowed along its length to carry two linear LED profiles at 2700K behind an opal acrylic diffuser. A one-inch shadow reveal in matt black separates the glowing aperture from the oak, so the light appears to come out of a gap rather than off a fitting. It hangs on natural jute rope sleeved over stainless aircraft cable: the rope is what you see, the cable carries the load. Screws sit in slotted holes so the timber can move without splitting. Every part of it was drawn, dimensioned, and detailed before anyone was asked to quote it.

That is the argument of the project. It is a small commercial fit-out on a four marla plot, and it was given the same seriousness as a house.

Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 1
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 2
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 3
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 4
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 5
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 6
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 7
Ovencraft, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore, photograph 8

Process

Drawn, prototyped, built

Ovencraft, Sketch, 5 June 2026. Five bays, a terracotta bench at 390, rattan, a brass planter. The brass became the wall pieces; the bays became the seating.
Sketch, 5 June 2026. Five bays, a terracotta bench at 390, rattan, a brass planter. The brass became the wall pieces; the bays became the seating.
Ovencraft, A chair frame in the workshop, jointed and dry-fitted before upholstery. The furniture was made for the room, not bought for it.
A chair frame in the workshop, jointed and dry-fitted before upholstery. The furniture was made for the room, not bought for it.
Ovencraft, The brass wall piece as a prototype: a hand-raised disc with a spun cup, held up on the fabricator's floor before the run was approved.
The brass wall piece as a prototype: a hand-raised disc with a spun cup, held up on the fabricator's floor before the run was approved.
Ovencraft, The fluted counter base going together. The flutes run vertical and wrap the curved end in one continuous face.
The fluted counter base going together. The flutes run vertical and wrap the curved end in one continuous face.
Ovencraft, The oak pendant going up from scaffolding, against green that was already finished. Installing a fixture this size late is a scheduling decision, not an accident.
The oak pendant going up from scaffolding, against green that was already finished. Installing a fixture this size late is a scheduling decision, not an accident.
Ovencraft, The name going up, letter by letter, from a scaffold on the pavement. The sign was the last thing fitted before opening.
The name going up, letter by letter, from a scaffold on the pavement. The sign was the last thing fitted before opening.
Ovencraft, Gold serif letters fixed directly to the black slats. The sign is part of the screen rather than a board hung in front of it.
Gold serif letters fixed directly to the black slats. The sign is part of the screen rather than a board hung in front of it.

Drawings

Detail and fabrication

Ovencraft, LGT-01 — Feature pendant, double-height area. Front elevation, longitudinal section, underside plan, suspension node and cross section, with fabrication notes and materials schedule.
LGT-01 — Feature pendant, double-height area. Front elevation, longitudinal section, underside plan, suspension node and cross section, with fabrication notes and materials schedule.
Ovencraft, Feature pendant, cross section. Solid quarter-sawn white oak on an aluminium channel spine, linear LED behind an opal acrylic diffuser, one-inch shadow reveal in matt black.
Feature pendant, cross section. Solid quarter-sawn white oak on an aluminium channel spine, linear LED behind an opal acrylic diffuser, one-inch shadow reveal in matt black.
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