Out of the box

摘要

IN AN era when architectural master-pieces curve and bloom (Zaha Hadid), or shimmy and fold (Frank Gehry), designers of central-bank buildings remain reassuringly fond of right angles. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (mas), the city-state's central bank and financial regulator, is housed in a boxy tower just south of the central business district. But tucked into one corner is a room called "Looking-Glass@MAs" that desperately wants to be Silicon Valley: witness the scruffily dressed young men, whiteboards on wheels covered in buzzwords and the kitchen along one wall.