The village of Mulegns is located on the Julier Pass road, and has just 16 inhabitants. The aim of the project is to bring in culture and revitalise the area. This plan is the brainchild of Giovanni Netzer, theatre director and founder of the Origen cultural festival. To this end, his foundation had an old villa relocated, reopened a hotel and is now having a tower printed using white concrete.
Digital building technology in a mountain village
The White Tower was designed and planned by ETH Professor Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer from the Digital Building Technologies research group, together with the Origen foundation. Today, the foundation presented the project in Mulegns for the first time. Swiss President Guy Parmelin was also in attendance during the presentation of the project.
The tower is 23 metres in height, and consists mainly of organically shaped, 3D-printed white concrete columns. They support four floors that are each between four and eight metres high. Right at the top, they form a dome and surround a stage where theatre plays, dance performances and concerts will be held.
The project is a fascinating blend of culture and science. ETH aims to use this collaboration to strengthen the association between culture, research and technology development, says Detlef Günther, Vice President for Research at ETH Zurich. “Because new knowledge often emerges where various disciplines meet.”
The White Tower will have a prominent position on the Julier Pass, and is intended to be visually reminiscent of the Grisons confectionery tradition. Large numbers of Grisons emigrants made a name for themselves as pâtissiers in Europe’s capital cities in the 18th century, with their elaborately decorated creations of small, delicate sugar towers.
