Pew Manufacturer Essential Element of Brilliant Sanctuary Design

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 the church pew.

These 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 church pew selection and placement is the centerpiece of sanctuary design, working with a church furniture manufacturer knowledgeable in the myriad of issues associated with the 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 church furniture 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-seating and aisles? In addition to codes, what issues vital to parishioner comfort need to be addressed? How does the form of worship affect the church 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.

“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.”

Common errors such a company catches include spacing of the church pews and incorrect displacement of them. In one example of such an error, a plan recently received was one which specified church pews 25 feet long, with 36-inch spacing between seat backs. At quick glance at the plans with 36” spacing seemed correct; however, that only left a 12” opening between them. Given the length, the clearance was not adequate and was actually a code violation, even though the dispersement was drawn correctly.

A church building committee, when specifying church furniture, is 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.

Imperial Woodworks, Inc.
John Hancock
Phone: (800) 234-6624
Fax: (254) 741-0736
http://www.imperialww.com