THE 19TH CENTURY POBLENOU INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT IS BEING CONVERTED INTO A NEW RESIDENTIAL AREA: THE OLD FACTORIES HAVE GIVEN WAY TO HOMES, LEISURE ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES. THE OVEN RESTAURANT, WHICH HAS INHERITED ITS BUILDING FROM A FORMER TYPOGRAPHIC WORKSHOP, IS ONE OF THESE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS THAT HAS HELPED TO CHANGE THE AREA, PROVIDING A COMPLETELY NEW CONTEMPORARY VISION OF ITS ARCHITECTURAL AND DECORATIVE CONFIGURATION, WITHOUT FORGETTING ITS INHERITED PAST.

From the Factory Straight to Your Home
Oven is a classic example of the mixture of disciplines and feelings we can find in modern-day culture. Its promoters are the Greek architect Minos Digenis, from the 106Bis Arquitectura studio, and the Mexican DJ Ángel Dust, who commissioned Antoni Arola with the interior design project. Arola captures the concept of multiple disciplines in the restaurant by creating a chain of spaces without any kind of separation: terrace, lounge, dining room and kitchen. This succession of atmospheres gives Oven the appearance of exhibition room, concert hall, bar and restaurant all in one. Although it is a flexible space, each zone is distinguished by means of its particular lighting. The entrance has the personal welcome of a frosted methacrylate globe designed by Arola (included in the Santa & Cole company production catalogue); a red background creates a special climate for musical performances and optic fibre cables give the bar the right environmental temperature. In the kitchen, linked to the restaurant by means of a clear glass window, there is a screen lamp, which doubles as a prop for cookware. This lamp, designed with the help of the graphic designer Pablo Martín, features the photograph of a gas flame. All this fits under the blanket of a series of mobile soffits that hide the ceiling, allowing for a certain acoustic and luminous atmosphere. The slightly sophisticated informal atmosphere is reinforced by the furniture. The chairs have been created following a model of undefined origin found by Arola. The tables are made of Scotch pine with iron legs, a combination of the warmth of a hearth with industrial coldness stressed by the fact that the original cement floor has been preserved -as decided by Digenis himself halfway through the refurbishment- filling the joints in with resin and treating the surface with a wax patina.