The new materials are based on a design known as the "split ring" structure.

BBC: Last Updated: Monday, 8 March 2004, 09:03 GMT

The headquarters will replace 26 office buildings (some previously occupied by HP) with one massive ring-shaped structure a four-story, 2.8-million-square-feet circular building that will house up to 13, 000 employees.

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The ring-fence structure makes a distinction between the bits of banking that need saving (deposit-taking banks, payment systems and the like) and the bits that do not (bonus-gorging investment bankers).

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He has explored crystal growth, and developed, with a specialist in nature-related algorithms, a 3-D program mimicking the way crystals actually grow over millions of years (with this particular program, he and the scientists he has been working with made virtual crystals grow directly on a ring-like structure on their computer, almost instantly, then manufactured them with a 3-D printer).

WSJ: Ringing the Changes