Eli böğründe (angled bracket)

An eli böğründe is the angled bracket that supports a projecting element from underneath. The Turkish name means roughly hand on hip, after the angle a bent arm makes against the body: the lower end bears on the wall, the upper end meets the beam of the projection. In traditional Turkish houses it is usually timber; in masonry buildings stone corbels do the same job.

Role in the building

An oriel window or overhang puts load outside the plane of the wall. That load sits on cantilevered joists, and to stop their tips from sagging an angled brace is set beneath them. Part of the bending in the joist turns into axial compression in the brace, which carries the load back down into the wall or post below. Eaves, balconies and door canopies use the same principle.

• Plain bracket: straight, simple timber section
• Curved or carved bracket: profiled, decorative versions
• Stone corbel: the masonry equivalent

In survey and restoration

These brackets are among the most exposed parts of a building. Rot at the ends and loose joints are common. In a measured survey record the angle, section and profile of each one, because hand-worked pieces are rarely identical. A restoration project keeps the sound brackets and remakes missing ones from the original profile. In a 3D model a single reusable component is convenient, but keeping differently carved pieces separate gives the model real value in restitution work.