Glossary · S
Springer
Also called springers
The lowest voussoir of an arch, resting on the impost; also the stone at the foot of a vault from which several ribs spring together.
Rules that use the word
Tiercerons: more ribs from each springer. Add to the diagonal ribs further ribs (tiercerons) that rise from the same springers to points on the ridge rib, so that each springer sends up a sheaf of ribs and the vault reads as a palm.
Liernes make stars. Add short ribs (liernes) that spring from neither the springers nor the central boss but run from rib to rib, linking them into star and net patterns across the vault.
The fan vault: identical cones of tracery. Make each springer the foot of an inverted half-cone (a conoid) whose ribs all have the same curve and are cut across by horizontal rings; where the conoids stop, fill the centre with flat panels.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters The Arch, Vaults, Romanesque and Gothic.
Nearby in the glossary
Spandrel · Spandrel panel · Specus · Spolia · Springing · Squinch · Steel frame · Stela