The White Tower (Tor Alva) is a cultural landmark developed in collaboration with ETH Zurich, commissioned by the Origen Cultural Foundation, and constructed in Mulegns, Switzerland. Conceived as a contemporary reinterpretation of historical masonry towers, the project investigates how digitally supported design and fabrication methods can be applied to architecturally expressive, load-bearing concrete elements.

Within the project, the column bases and capitals play a central architectural and structural role. Their geometric differentiation and fine articulation exceed the capabilities of conventional timber or milled formwork, requiring fabrication methods that combine precision, variation, and repeatability.

At SAEKI Robotics AG, we were responsible for the design and fabrication of more than 50 m² of bespoke formwork for the base and capital elements of the columns. The formwork system was explicitly designed for reuse: a single set of formwork was reused up to eight times to cast multiple concrete components, significantly reducing material use compared to conventional one-off formwork solutions.

The formwork material and detailing were developed with its full lifecycle in mind. After completion of the casting process, the material is recycled, minimizing construction waste while remaining compatible with established concrete construction workflows. The project demonstrates how digitally fabricated, reusable formwork can support architectural specificity and responsible material use in real building contexts.