Working within a narrow, linear tenancy, Sans Arc has reconfigured the traditional circulation pathway, giving customers a front row seat to the theatre of Shadow Baking.

Shadow Baking combines both a sensory immersion with the lively animation of the early start that bakers are all too familiar with – waking up the urban landscape as a glowing lightbox to signal the start to the day. Located along Jetty Road, Glenelg, the materiality of the interior is grounded in a utilitarian DNA. Stainless steel – chosen both for its functional necessity and as a reflection of the precision required in baking – becomes the anchor of the space.

“Our palette was built off of the core stainless elements already needed within a kitchen, acknowledging that a large portion would always be visible,” says Sans Arc founder and director, Matiya Marovich. “Instead of concealing the inner workings, we decided to showcase it.” Around this, textured plaster, pale stones and tan upholstery create a quiet counterbalance, softening the harder edges with muted tactility. 

“While the bulk of the tactility [of the space] is introduced through the counter and the floor,” Marovich explains, “the other elements play a role to moderate and soften the experience.” Light, filtered through perforated screens, shifts gently across surfaces throughout the day, filling the room in varying gradients that are constantly moving, rather than contrasts.

Conceived as a “lightbox for early risers,” Shadow Baking frames the rituals of baking with a calm, architectural precision. Intentionally, the labour element is not hidden. Instead, it threads through the space and feels honest and inclusive. 

The openness and linear nature of the space allows ensures the interior registers the rhythms of mixing, proving and cooling as part of a repeated daily practice. “Essentially there are two linear spaces that flow next to one another,” explains Marovich.

Rather than the usual counter-fronted transaction, visitors move alongside the production line, gently drawn inward. “The space is designed to gather people on one side and, while challenging, the idea was to ensure service could run one direction from front to back of house. On the other, customers could still come in, browse, order and collect, with two lines essentially contrasting one another.” The result is a spatial pairing of two trajectories that sit parallel yet distinct, while also acknowledging the convergence of craft and consumption.

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At the centre of the tight space sits an expressive gesture: a deep red, zig-zagging concrete counter. It operates both as an anchor and inflection point, as a single saturated departure from an otherwise restrained palette.

“The form is inspired by a layering and stacking reference (to baking itself),” Marovich notes, likening the counter’s folds to the lamination of pastry. “It remains as the one focal piece of colour, with everything else remaining quite muted and recessive that surrounds it.” Deliberately sculptural while also grounded through the inherent weight of the concrete itself, the form supports the overall offering both functionally and symbolically. It is the surface where the work of many hands arrives in its final state.

Transparency is handled with similar restraint. Screens create a softened threshold rather than a firm divide, allowing glimpses into the workings of the kitchen. “There is an obstructed boundary to the rear, yet there is a similar use of transparency that connects throughout,” Marovich explains. “We wanted to make sure that visibility was maintained to the ‘machine’ of the business – to the dressing, the piping.”

Through this subtle inclusion of permeability, there is an invitation to a deeper tuning to the joy and appreciation of daily labour, the repetitive gestures, the small efficiencies and the quiet attention to detail. 

Shadow Baking sees Sans Arc craft a compact and immersive environment that honours the act of making as much as its outcome. Warm, tactile and unforced, it offers moments of stillness within the industry of an early morning, holding space for both the baker’s ritual and the visitor’s quiet observation.

Sans Arc
sansarc.studio

Photography
Jack Fenby