The White Tower in Mulegns is currently the world's tallest 3D-printed concrete building – an architectural and technological pioneering project. A collaboration between the Nova Fundaziun Origen cultural foundation, ETH Zurich, the construction companies Uffer Gruppe and Zindel United, and the engineering firm of Conzett Bronzini Partner AG. We at Richnerstutz are proud of having been part of this unique project.
Our task was to completely cover the tower, thus making an important contribution to its iconic appearance at the unveiling ceremony and inauguration with Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin.
The textile cover was a real heavyweight: weighing 650 kilograms, 25 metres long and around 750 square metres in size. In our own production facility, we calculated all the geometries, prepared the surfaces, cut, joined and packaged – all in-house.
Installing the covering with a pneumatic crane on the 30-metre scaffolding was a logistical and technical tour de force. Particularly spectacular was the final closure of the tower's covering by a rope worker, who was working suspended inside the tower.
And for the unveiling ceremony we planned and coordinated the helicopter and the precise unveiling operation on behalf of Anja Diener, who was in charge of the overall coordination.
The result was a textile production for a visionary structure – and a project that called for courage, precision and team effort on a whole new level.
Image/video sources: TorAlva, Birdviewpicture, Benjamin Hofer
Opening of the White Tower | Mulegns.
Unveiling of the White Tower in Mulegns with helicopter
