Set in the remote village of Mulegns high in the Swiss Alps, the White Tower will host music and theater performances and act as a beacon for the region. At 30 meters in height, the White Tower will be the tallest 3D-printed structure in the world.

The central design element of the tower consists of 32 branched Y-shaped, 3D-printed columns. Each column has a unique system of ornament consisting of larger undulating ribs and a smaller material-driven texture. The White Tower is a vertical enfilade consisting of six floors. These abstract, atmospherically dense spaces range from dark and enclosed rooms at the bottom to light and airy ones on top. Visitors ascend a spiral staircase through a series of colonnades to reach a panoramic performance space on the top floor.

The tower is designed by architects Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer. The Digital Building Technologies group of ETH Zurich is developing the tower’s technology in collaboration with the Institute of Structural Analysis and Design (CSBD) and the Institute of Building Materials (PCBM) in the context of the National Competence Center Digital Fabrication. The White Tower is a project by the Nova Fundaziun Origen cultural foundation, developed in close collaboration with local and international industrial partners.

With its spectacular architecture and ground-breaking technology, the tower demonstrates the possibilities that computational design and digital fabrication offer the fields of architecture and construction. These include not only economic and ecological advantages but they allow for an elaborate, non-standard architecture with a bold wealth of shapes.

More information under: www.tor-alva.ch