spandrel

spandrel, the roughly triangular area above and on either side of an arch, bounded by a line running horizontally through the apex of the arch, a line rising vertically from the springing of the arch, and the curved extrados, or top of the arch. When arches adjoin, the entire area between their crowns and springing line is a spandrel. If it is filled in, as is ordinarily the case, the resulting structure is termed a spandrel wall. In medieval architecture it was usually ornamented.

In buildings of more than one story the spandrel is the area between the sill of a window and the head of the window below it. In steel or reinforced concrete structures there will sometimes be a spandrel beam extending horizontally from one column to another and supporting a section of wall. The more or less triangular area filling in the space below a stair string is also a form of spandrel.