White Tower | Michael Hansmeyer

Begin of Fabrication of the White Tower (“Tor-Alva”)

February 1st, 2024, marks the start of the fabrication of the White Tower’s columns. The first 8 columns of the lower floor are being 3D printed using concrete extrusion at ETH in Zurich. A robot extrudes the concrete in 8mm high layered print paths. Unlike conventional concrete construction, this process no longer requires any formwork. This opens up new design freedoms in terms of expressive shapes, surface details, and cavities. It enables the material-efficient production of customized columns within a few hours. In the White Tower, the printed concrete is used for the first time in a fully structural manner and the necessary steel reinforcement is inserted in the robotic production process – a significant milestone in the development of 3D printing of concrete.

About the White Tower

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.

Credits: R. Masallam, Hansmeyer/Dillenburger, Ana Anton and Eleni. Skevaki