St Patrick’s Church Pews

Vicbeam were approached by Anthony Russo from Orchard Design to provide some glulam curved beams to be used in a unique way – turned on their side to be used as seating for St Patrick’s Church pews!

The initial challenge was to provide a full size sample that could be presented to the client and for them to approve. This was done, and then production of the main curves could begin.

The dimensions of the seats were to be 500×60 with a 30mm rebate on the outer radius.

Anthony was kind enough to give us this commentary:

“The re-development of the Catholic Church  at St Patrick’s Pakenham offered an exciting challenge to comfortably accommodate up to 450 people within an existing building envelope.

The architectural design required continuous rows of seating following the radius of the sanctuary steps. This particular challenge required each row of pews to have an increased radius of one metre, as the seating radiated out to the back of the building.

With the curved pews, we required the seat to be fabricated in timber. Using Vicbeam’s laminated beam technology, Vicbeam was able to take on this challenge perfectly.

Each separate radius was fabricated accurately using their experiences and knowledge taken from their curved beam construction process.

Vicbeam was extremely helpful and worked well within the whole architectural process to deliver a quality outcome.”

Each row of seating had a different radius and so the curve press needed to be altered every second beam to accommodate the tightening radius. This was a time consuming but ultimately rewarding process.

The beams were delivered to site for them to be trimmed and fitted with matching stainless steel backrests, that was then covered with beautiful made-to-suit leather for comfort. The radii of steel manufacturer, leather craftsman, and timber supplier were all on point to create a beautiful seating arrangement for the St Patrick Church’s parishioners.