storm from the east

Graham Hill: Less stuff, more happiness

Writer and designer Graham Hill asks: Can having less stuff, in less room, lead to more happiness? He makes the case for taking up less space, and lays out three rules for editing your life.

I am a minimalist at heart and, for the last few years, I have been steadily - to use Hill's term - editing my life. I think it's helped me to plan better, be more creative, save money, spend more time doing the things I'm passionate about, think more clearly, and really evaluate my impact on the planet.

Give it a try. It's not only in minimalist design that less can be more.

Sunni Brown: Doodlers, unite!

Studies show that sketching and doodling improve our comprehension - and our creative thinking.

So why do we still feel embarrassed when we're caught doodling in a meeting? Sunni Brown says: Doodlers, unite!

She makes the case for unlocking your brain via pad and pen (not an iPad and finger).

I used to doodle all the time at school, but tried to stamp it out when I 'grew up'.

Recently I embraced it again because it helps me think and helps me be more creative. I was even doodling while I was watching this. Enjoy.

Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral

Could this be the key to a future more beautiful? In this illuminating talk, architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. The thing I love about Thomas Heatherwick is the amount of thought - and the kind of thought - he puts into the projects his firm handles. He goes way beyond the usual 'make it look nice and perhaps throw in some environmental stuff' to produce truly special buildings and other projects. One of his most famous creations, detailed in this video, is the extraordinary UK Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo, the Seed Cathedral, a celebration of growth and light.

Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlands

The Arctic and Antarctic regions have always held a fascination for me, in fact I originally planned to write my master's thesis on the Arctic, so I wanted to share this. Not only are the images beautiful, but the themes tie in with a lot of the things featured on SFTE, i.e. a sustainable approach to design and architecture. Whether or not we choose to recognise it, what we do and the impact it has is all connected. Diving under the Antarctic ice to get close to the much-feared leopard seal, photographer Paul Nicklen found an extraordinary new friend. Share his hilarious, passionate stories of the polar wonderlands, illustrated by glorious images of the animals who live on and under the ice.

Carlo Ratti: Architecture that senses and responds

With his team at SENSEable City Lab, MIT's Carlo Ratti makes cool things by sensing the data we create. He pulls from passive data sets, like the calls we make and the garbage we throw away, to create surprising visualizations of city life. Then he and his team create dazzling interactive environments from moving water and flying light, powered by simple gestures caught through sensors. I think it is fascinating, as are the questions and possibilities it raises. I also featured some of Carlo Ratti's work - the Digital Water Pavilion - back in 2007 and look forward to seing more.