World's tallest 3D-printed building wants to revive a tiny community

This is the moment a helicopter uncovered the world's tallest 3D printed tower in a remote Swiss village reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film set

And though it may look like a futuristic building clashes with the classic alpine landscape around it

it actually draws inspiration from local tradition. Its purpose? To attract tourism and help revive cultural life in a vanishing community

Meet Tor Alba, the White Tower. Located in the sleepy village of Moulens, currently home to only 11 people, Tor Alba rises above its surrounding buildings

The 30-meter tall 3D-printed construction was created by the Origin Cultural Foundation and ETH Zurich, relying on robots and digital craftsmanship

This tower has 32 white concrete columns, printed and applied layer by layer into free-form elements by a robot

The process is called additive manufacturing and it eliminates the need for supportive casting molds The column design is based on algorithms that generate both ornamental and structural assets The 32 columns rise over four stories which get thinner and branch out towards the top

where they fan out to form a dome. But this kind of shape wouldn't have been possible with regular concrete

To ensure the tower could be built, ETH Professor Rover Flat developed a mixture that's soft

enough to bond the delicate structure, but also has the ability to harden quickly to

support the subsequent layers. So, just as the concrete is about to leave the pressurized

nozzle, two additives are mixed in to create that droplet-like relief of the columns

The project also relied on innovations in the 3D printing process itself. Usually, 3D-printed

elements like the ones in Tor Alva would only serve an ornamental purpose, but a robot-assisted

technique helped them also become load-bearing. This was achieved by robot team play. As one

robot applied the concrete layers a second one was programmed to install a circular piece every 20 centimeters This process created ring reinforcements which were further reinforced after printing by adding wires placed within the structure The ETH researchers also

developed a new testing method to help them calculate the 3D printed concrete's load-bearing

capacity before building even began. The whole process took about five months, after which the

components were assembled in a nearby town and then delivered to Mulens

And though it may not immediately seem so, Tor Alves' design honors local tradition

The tower's shape was inspired by the ornate layered cake, which was first created by

confectioners from Gruben Den, the canton or area Mulen is part of, who exported their

skills as they emigrated to other parts of Europe. And it is exactly local craftsmanship

and cultural traditions that this project hopes to revive. The tower is now open to the public and will start hosting cultural events

starting with open-air theater and concerts. The building is planned to serve as the town's cultural center for five years

after which it will be moved to another location. Switzerland rural areas are experiencing a notable population decline driven by factors such as aging demographics urban migration and decreasing economic opportunities

Between 2019 and 2022, a village in Grobunden called Tulles experienced a 31.9% population decline

That's one of the biggest in the country during this period. And Switzerland isn't alone

the pattern of so-called vanishing villages is observed all across Europe, where rural areas have been losing around 0.1% of their population between 2015 and 2020

while urban population in that period increased by around 0.4%. And while it seems unlikely that Torralba will reverse Mulenz's population loss

the landmark and events held there might bring in more tourists to the village

which could boost local businesses and craftsmanship. So if you plan any trips to Switzerland soon, you might want to add Moulins to your map

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