Why don't you explain, and back it up with a great SU render, how much less cost there is if each corner is segmented into 2 or 3 panels?
It then becomes, once again, a nice little 3D framing project (I would tack and glue the whole thing up in rips from 3/4" CDX), nicely paneled, and nicely trimmed.
Are they really in love with the curves, or is the point to eliminate the rather unusable square corners?
With your seatback angle, those surfaces are compound curvatures. But you knew that.
You are thinking just about the same as I was with this. The curved part doesn't bother me in the least bit. The compound angle is a little further than you really need to go. The studding/backing for the ply is all identical on the curved part. That's all production baby! Just a boatload of them on the curve.
The rest of the frame is just like you said, 3/4" ply, ripped, glued, stapled, braced....it's lightweight to bring in and a tank when screwed down to the floor. Dimensional lumber sucks on something like this.
I took this in and their eyeballs popped out, they were so happy. This is stage 1. I wanted to make absolutely sure I got the radius corners perfect, so up went the 3 other sides that were straight shots. 3 screws from the bottom and this thing is ready for bar fights. Destroy away.
To Gus, this is the ply I was talking about earlier, the Araucoply. It's so similar to SYP, but it doesn't warp quite as much as SYP. Once in place this stuff looks real nice. $22 and 9 ply for ACX, not bad. I would never use it for cabinets, only for a utility type application. Works nice, but it does warp on you, especially the top piece.
This is all the base construction. PL glue and 1-1/2" staples liberally everywhere.
Here's the end of my Sunday. Screwed from the bottom, but have to take it off for the upholsterer. It's temporary until I get the rounded pieces in. Wait until you see those. They are going to be a work of art.
Here's the back construction. It's a horrible picture. Those are tapered 5". They're 26-1/2" long. Glued on the ends and stapled to bejesus. It looks warped, but it's not. It's my camera.....really. These are precise.
The SU file was just for me. I use a different approach to rendering. If I was setup like I should be, this render would have taken an hour. Still not top of the line, but IMO, when the client sees this, it's over for the other guy....if there is "the other guy"
They were happy even though it doesn't have the correct background.
If you are wondering, yes, this is my lounge model and everything in the picture is fake. It's all modeling, no reality whatsoever. Sells itself IMO.