Architectural Studies: Abbey and Street-Michel

These pen sketches by American architect Arnold William Brunner capture Gothic and medieval architectural elements with the precision of working drawings. The left study isolates a window and buttress system with careful cross-hatching to suggest volume and shadow. The right composition presents a more complex facade with a conical tower, multiple window types, and ground-level details. Such rapid architectural sketches served dual purposes: recording observed structures during study travel and developing visual solutions for contemporary design work. Brunner's confident line and spatial notation reveal the draftsman's eye trained to extract essential forms from complex historical buildings.