Ministry of Design Merges Banking and Biophilia at a Citibank Wealth-Management Center in Singapore June 9, 2021 By Rebecca Dalzell Money plants, parlor palms, and bird’s nest ferns are among the tropical species filling the conservatory at Citi Wealth Hub, a wealth-management center in Singapore by Ministry of Design. Photography by KHOOGJ. The founder and director of Ministry of Design, Colin Seah, admits that his firm was not an obvious choice to design a high-end bank. “We’re a bit of a black sheep,” he says. “It’s our natural impulse to be slightly rebellious and question convention.” The Singaporean architect has earned accolades for such edgy constructions as the Race Robotics Laboratory, a futuristic black cave, and the piercing triangular Vanke Triple V Gallery. Investment banks, by contrast, favor plush but predictable interiors. Yet Citibank Singapore was ready for a change when it held a competition to create the Citi Wealth Hub, a wealth-management center downtown. The RFP called for out-of-the-box thinking and a fresh, world-class experience. MOD’s outsider perspective worked to its advantage: The firm won with a proposal for what it called a “banking conservatory” filled with tropical plants.