Grime Stories 25

Welcome – and a big hello to all my new subscribers!

It’s been lovely to see a flurry of new sign-ups recently, so if you’ve just joined, thank you for being here. I hope you enjoy what’s to come – and here’s some exciting news: you’re now in with a chance to win one of my original drawings, created live on Sky Arts Masterclass!

Keep reading for all the details...

A bizarre but brutalist beauty confronted me on my recent school exchange trip to Paris. Nestled in a northern suburb of Saint-Denis, a stone’s throw from the Stade de France, the school—which has asked to remain nameless—was for centuries the only prominent structure in the area, aside from the neighbouring Gothic Basilica that holds the tombs of countless French kings, including Marie Antoinette.

Unsurprisingly, though, my main architectural focus wasn’t the grandeur of the past but the overlooked concrete mass just behind it—Îlot 8. Designed by Renée Gailhoustet between 1975 and 1986, the building is part of a wider urban renewal scheme that aimed to reinvent how people live together in high-density cities. It’s a complex piece of architecture—raw, layered, and deliberately irregular.

Walking through it, I was struck by how it resists standardisation. Each apartment feels different, private terraces spill out with plants, and shared walkways cut through the structure like a secondary street network. The building is far from perfect—many residents still face practical issues like leaking terraces and poor insulation—but there’s an intent behind the design that stays with you. For me, it offered a compelling reminder that architecture doesn’t need to be pristine to be powerful.

And finally – yes, the drawing is still up for grabs!

As I mentioned earlier, one lucky subscriber was selected last time… but they never got back to me. So the opportunity is still open! If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning the piece I created on Sky Arts Masterclass, just keep an eye out – I’ll be picking again soon.