Introduced in 2021, the Tor Alva – White Tower («Weisser Turm») is an over 24-meter tall constructing that’s 3D printed utilizing concrete extrusion. Designed for Fundaziun Origen, the tower provides house for artwork installations and for music and theater performances. Guests ascend a spiral staircase by means of a collection of colonnades to achieve the stage of the excessive, vaulted corridor on the highest ground.
The tower’s daring wealth of shapes is paying homage to the good craftsmanship of the Graubünden grasp builders of the Baroque period, who had a decisive affect on the area’s structure.
The White Tower can also be meant to show the groundbreaking potentialities of computational design and digital fabrication, which is able to basically lengthen typical constructing programs within the years to return. Utilizing a robotic concrete extrusion course of, concrete could be utilized very particularly solely the place wanted, thereby lowering its consumption by half. As well as, this course of now not requires any formwork. These applied sciences allow modular constructions that permit for on-site manufacturing, thereby lowering transport. The White Tower might be constructed with disassembly in thoughts in order that it may be rebuilt at one other location.
The White Tower idea
The White Tower accommodates a collection of summary, atmospherically dense rooms which can be designed as a vertical enfilade. The big corridor on the highest ground accommodates a vaulted stage with seating for 45 guests and is designed for concert events and theater performances.
The White Tower’s central design factor is a collection of 102 3D printed columns. These help the totally different ranges of the constructing and type the tower’s façade. Within the decrease rooms, heavy, squat columns create slender, imposing areas. As one ascends the central spiral staircase, the rooms on the higher flooring grow to be noticeably lighter and airier.
Every column has two ranges of ornamentation: a horizontal material-driven decoration derived from the extruded concrete printing course of and a super-imposed spiraling texture that emphasizes the constructing’s top. The totally different column geometries allow sturdy spatial experiences and are held collectively by the unity of their materials. General, the constructing, which is made from white concrete, seems filigree and light-weight. The intense supplies and the daring constructions promote the architectural play of sunshine and shadow. With its idiosyncratic openings, the White Tower seems as a lantern at night time and turns into a lighthouse set alongside previous Julier Go street.
3D printing the White Tower
The White Tower might be printed three-dimensionally utilizing a concrete extrusion course of developed on the DBT group of the Swiss Federal Institute of Know-how (ETH Zurich). The tower might be one of many world’s tallest completely 3D printed constructions. On this novel fabrication course of, a robotic successively applies 5mm skinny layers of soppy concrete by means of a nozzle. The fabric is gentle sufficient to bond collectively and type homogenous parts whereas hardening rapidly sufficient to help the successive layers.
Different digital applied sciences are additionally used within the design course of. All the construction of the tower is designed utilizing customized software program that enables the exact definition of the geometry and might ship the mandatory information on to the printing robots. This know-how allows non-standard, tailored parts to be manufactured effectively.
Some of these varieties can be practically unimaginable to supply at this scale utilizing typical applied sciences. On this new development course of, the tower might be assembled from 102 3D printed particular person columns. Components are solely full of concrete the place it’s structurally required, which tremendously reduces materials use. This development technique avoids waste as a result of no formwork for pouring concrete is important. The dismantling of the White Tower is already designed on the strategy planning stage in order that it may be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere. A cell manufacturing unit might be arrange on-site, lowering the necessity to transport the massive parts, and making the manufacturing course of tangible for guests.
