architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, a springer (sometimes springing) is the lowest voussoir (wedge-shaped structural element) on each side of an

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

. Since it is the bottom-most element of the arch, it is where the arch support terminates at the respond. It rests on the impost or pier of the arch, that is, the topmost part of the

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

, from which the arch arises. Usually, the springer is located at the bottom of an arch curve. The "delayed" springing (when the curvature starts noticeably above the support) is a trait of a stilted arch, common in Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

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* contains many examples of the stilted arch Arches and vaults {{architecturalelement-stub