|
|
An Essential of Brilliant Sanctuary Design: Involvement of the Pew Manufacturer
November 8th, 2006
An architect’s brilliance is in his or her design—the keystone for an entire structural project. The poetic composition incorporating synergies of space, illumination, and interwoven forms will breathe life into—and set the tone for—the future activities it hosts for many years to come. Professionals engaging in ecclesiastical architecture reflect and engender spiritual enlightenment and erudition through proper utilization of iconic symbolism and building form, and composition of ministerial and congregation spaces. As they will attest, the centerpiece of any sanctuary, and the keystone of its design strategy, is the selection, arrangement and placement of pews.
“The elements of restrictions of how long the pews can be and their spacing are rigid to a point that many times the sanctuary needs to be designed around the pews,” says Tony Mull, architectural project manager with The Aspen Group of Frankfort, Illinois, an architectural firm specializing in religious facilities. “There are issues of whether the floor is flat or sloped, of clearance and making sure the aisles are right, and ensuring you are able to seat the right number of people.”
It is at this juncture that brilliant design elements must be supported by prudent implementation. As with any specialty structure, a church carries its own knowledge base, codes and specifications. As pew selection and placement is the centerpiece of sanctuary design, working with a pew manufacturer knowledgeable in the myriad of issues associated with pew construction, layout and installation is essential to design evolution.
Such assistance can prove to be vital even to designers with expertise in ministry architecture, as Mull discovered upon attending a “lunch and learn” presented by Imperial Woodworks, a leading pew manufacturer from Waco, Texas. This particular manufacturer goes out of their way to coordinate with and train architects in overcoming the numerous barriers associated with pew specification, selection and installation.
What Mull and others have discovered through such presentations is the essential importance of addressing particular issues right at the outset of a project. What do the local building codes specify as to length, distance-between-pews and aisles? In addition to codes, what issues vital to parishioner comfort need to be addressed? How does the form of worship affect the pew design and installation? For example, a Catholic church requires conveniently placed and easily operated kneelers, and a Pentecostal church requires adequate space at the front of the sanctuary for altar calls. Other denominations have particular requirements as well, and they can all be different.
There are further issues, such as dealing with risers, miters, conforming to floor pitch and covering material, and different pew dispersements. And, last but certainly not least, a pew must be constructed for the longest life and maximum durability in concert with aesthetic appearance.
“A lot of the problem comes in determining what the actual need is,” says John Templeton, lead project architect and managing member of Foxhollow-Goodson, an architectural firm specializing in ministry planning, master planning and architectural development. “We try to exercise good stewardship with the development of the sizes of spaces. You’ve got a lot of code issues relating to the number of people per pew length. The code uses 18 inches per person, for example, but that’s not practical because there are very few of us who are 18 inches wide. You must also deal with customer standards of what feels ‘too crowded’—even though you may have a sanctuary that seats 1300 people, it’s going to feel full at some number less than that.”
An architect can be greatly assisted by a pew manufacturer that can examine and make recommendations upon the architect’s actual plan. Such assistance can be rendered through review of the plan to isolate code violations or other errors such as denomination configuration or construction material, and reported discreetly to the architect for correction with no unnecessary information given the building owner or committee. Imperial Woodworks offers such a service.
“The problems I’m trying to solve deal with space utilization,” says Mull. “If I can provide a pew manufacturer’s engineers just a basic floor plan along with a preliminary layout of what I think it should be and the number of people needed to fit, and they can provide answers, it’s extremely helpful. It’s even better if they have a system that shows the exact way the pews can fit in to the specific sanctuary space I’m working on, with the different lengths and angles required.”
John Templeton agrees. “We really need to get them involved in the schematic design phase. As we’re laying out the sanctuary and as we’re defining what the ministry needs of the worship space truly are, they should be involved to help us make sure we’re maximizing the use of the space. For example, we usually have an idea of where we want the aisles, but many times Imperial Woodworks will lend us assistance in laying out partial aisles or the shape of the sanctuary in general.”
Common errors such a company catches include spacing of the pews and incorrect displacement of a pew. The envelope of a pew, from the back to the front edges, is a depth of 24 inches, and needs to be drawn on a plan as such. The company often catches pew depth drawn at 18 or even 12 inches. It is also common for drawings to specify a 12-inch minimum clearance spacing between pews, which in the real world is not adequate.
In one example of such an error, a plan recently received was one which specified pews 25 feet long, with 36-inch spacing between pew backs. At quick glance at the plans with 36” spacing seemed correct; however, that only left a 12” opening between pews. Given the length of the pews, the clearance was not adequate and was actually a code violation, even though the pew dispersement was drawn correctly.
A church building committee, when specifying a pew, is also looking to the architect for guidance, and an architect being guided by pew experts will be able to provide the best service to the church.
An example of this not being done was an architect who took the specification from a church building committee of a solid-wood pew, who in turn ordered the pews from a less-experienced pew manufacturer. The manufacturer took the order, manufactured the pews in Alabama in a warm, sunny climate, and shipped them to Chicago on a very cold day. Wood is a hygroscopic (moisture-absorbing) material that expands and contracts due to changes in temperature and humidity, and the solid wood pews contracted radically due to the climactic changes causing the glue joints to break. The result was a construction nightmare, beginning with the truck driver and installer attempting to re-glue the pews in order to bring them into the building.
Although solid wood is a traditional pew material, it is virtually indistinguishable from more modern solutions such as plywood or MDF covered in solid wood with a hardwood veneer. A company can only warranty hardwood for one (1) year, whereas veneered plywood or MDF can be warranted for 25 years, due to its advanced structural integrity.
Credibility for this type of construction over solid wood can be validated by a visit to a high-end furniture outlet in an area and examination a leaf from the most expensive dining table in the store. Upon examination of the leaf’s edge, a cross section of the construction can be clearly seen. The viewer will be able to see that the table has a veneer face, a solid wood edge, and a core material of plywood, MDF, or engineered wood.
A competent pew manufacturer will work closely with and accommodate architects in other important issues as well. An architect will generally desire local representation for easy access to the company, will sometimes require special designs, will need to know about the availability and workability of certain wood species, or may require a management representative of the pew manufacturer to meet with the client.
“The reason I keep going back to Imperial is that no matter what level of the company I’m dealing with, from sales, to the factory, to the president of the company, they are very dedicated to a project,” Templeton says.
Templeton recently involved the company in the building of a large gothic-style church. “It’s a large sanctuary, seating about 1300,” he says. “It’s 87 feet high on the inside. There were some scale issues that we had to overcome—we didn’t want the pews to look like Popsicle sticks sitting in this great big space. Imperial really helped us, offering us some ideas having to do with the detail on the pews and the molding. They worked with us, and we actually designed a special pew-end for that church.”
“If I call on them, they’re there. If I ask the president of the company to be at a meeting, he’ll be there.”
Mull agrees. “They are extremely flexible. It’s not just a cookie-cutter deal—they really want to make the customer happy with different components.”
An example of the company exactly addressing client issues occurred recently for Mull. He had a project in one sanctuary to incorporate permanent pew seating with portable chairs. The church required certain areas toward the front and at the sides of the sanctuary to be open, but desired the option for extra seating for concerts and special events. The manufacturer was able to provide matching permanent and portable pew chairs which, when combined, maintained perfect design continuity.
One very unique project Templeton has engaged the manufacturer for is the renovation of a Gulfport, Mississippi church which miraculously survived hurricane Katrina with little damage. Built in 1914, the church has a domed, stained-glass ceiling and sloping floors. It follows what’s known as an old “Akron plan” for a sanctuary, which involves amphitheater-type seating in a semi-circle around, and sloping upward from, an altar.
“Because of the slope of the floor and the way it was constructed all those years ago, Imperial went in and did a topographic layout of the floor, and actually shot elevations inside that space to maximize our layout,” Templeton explains. The result will be a mitered pew system to conform to the space and maximize the number of seats, with specially-designed pew ends to reflect the authenticity of the sanctuary.
Part of the choice of a pew manufacturer, in addition to their product quality and expert assistance, is their reliability and stability as a company. Questions addressing the company’s longevity, past performance record in other projects, and how timely their delivery will be are all essential.
A respected index of reliability, as it would be for any business, is the manufacturer’s Dunn and Bradstreet rating. This rating shows fiscal health and overall management efficiency and is a prime indicator of stability. All concerned—the church, the architect and the contractors—will obviously require a pew manufacturer who will be reliable right up through completion of the finished building.
This kind of stability might not be so obvious—until it impacts a project. Although originally recommended by the architect for a job but vetoed by the church building committee, Imperial Woodworks was able to come in and literally save the job when the pew manufacturer originally contracted went bankrupt before the pews could be built, delivered or installed. The architect, who was eternally grateful to the company, has already engaged them for another large project.
“Company stability is pretty critical,” Templeton says. “There are a lot of smaller pew companies out there who are more local or more regional, but they just don’t have the delivery time. You don’t want to have a building finished and no pews in it. They might also not have the consistent product quality. Imperial has been involved with us in numerous projects over the last ten years, and they’ve come through every time.”
Imperial Woodworks has been in continuous business, with the same ownership, since 1960. The next generation of management is already in place, being trained from the ground up, so that when the current management is ready to retire, they will be in place and ready to take the helm, already with 12 - 15 years experience.
For more information on Imperial Woodworks, to schedule a “lunch ‘n learn”, or to receive their free CD-ROM tailored for architectural assistance, contact the company at 1-800-234-6624 or visit www.imperialww.com.
|
|
.jpg)