Researchers want to print tower
A 23 meter high tower is to be built in the Grisons village of Mulegns. It is set to become one of the tallest structures ever to be 3D printed and built by robots. It is made possible by four researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
The Graubünden village of Mulegns on the Julier Pass is to receive a new cultural site: Giovanni Netzer, theater director and founder of the Origen cultural festival, wants to have a new white tower built. This should be 23 meters high and comprise four floors. At the very top, a stage for performances is to be built under a dome. The appearance of the tower should be reminiscent of the Graubünden confectioner tradition.
Netzer wants to rely on digital construction technologies for the construction of the tower. To do this, he works with researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ). The tower is designed and planned by ETH professor Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer from the Digital Building Technologies research group together with the Origen Foundation by Netzer. In addition, with Robert Flatt, Walter Kaufmann and Andreas Wieser, three other ETH professors from the national research focus on digital fabrication are involved.
The components of the tower are to be produced on site with a 3D printer. Interested parties can watch this process. Robots should then build the tower from these parts. According to an announcement from ETH, the tower will be one of the tallest structures ever to be 3D printed and built by robots. The construction using 3D printing enables complex geometries to be produced and raw materials to be used sparingly.
When the project was presented on Tuesday, Federal President Guy Parmelin was also present. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2022. In addition, the dismantling is already planned. In this way, the concrete elements can be separated from each other again at a later point in time. Theoretically, the tower could then be rebuilt in another location.