A tower aims to raise the population — not just the roof. In Mulegns, Switzerland — where the local headcount hovers around a dozen — a towering new arrival is making noise in the best possible way. Tor Alva, or the White Tower, now rises nearly 100 feet above the rooftops, a gleaming 3D-printed beacon of architectural ambition in a village teetering on the edge of extinction. Unveiled in May, the column-wrapped tower is officially the tallest 3D-printed building in the world. It won’t house any residents, but it will lure visitors to the town, something that’s sorely needed locally. But its true purpose reaches beyond records: reviving a town whose population has plummeted from 140 in 1900 to barely enough to field a soccer team today. The tower was created by the Origen Cultural Foundation in collaboration with ETH Zurich, and assembled on the site of a former blacksmith’s shop. Its 32 sculptural columns were robotically printed on ETH’s campus near Zurich using a custom concrete blend designed by Professor Robert Flatt to set fast while retaining delicate architectural detail. The structure, meant to evoke both filigree jewelry and the layered elegance of a confectioner’s cake, was designed with cultural symbolism in mind — an homage to the pastry chefs who once emigrated from the region and brought prosperity home with them. “It inspires the building sector, encourages sustainable tourism and offers new cultural space,” Giovanni Netzer, founder of the Origen Cultural Foundation, said in the ETH Zurich press release. He called the project “a technical triumph.” Inside the tower is a 32-seat cupola theater with sweeping views of the surrounding alpine landscape. Daily guided tours are now open to visitors, and theatrical performances will begin in July. The tower’s arrival marks a dramatic intervention in the fate of Mulegns, where the population fell to 50 by 1980. According to the project’s website, Tor Alva aims to “breathe new life into a historic community while setting a global standard for sustainable, culturally vibrant development.” ETH Zurich experts say the project represents a “symbiosis” of architecture, culture and science. “The use of 3D printing enables a bold, non-standard approach to architecture,” they said, “offering an extraordinary range of shapes and forms.” While the cost of the tower hasn’t been disclosed, similar large-scale printed structures have exceeded about $1.1 million, according to Concrete Connect. Mulegns won’t host the tower forever — Tor Alva is set to be dismantled and relocated to another village in 2030. But local leaders hope that by then, the attention, tourism, and investment it brings will have helped Mulegns regain not just visitors, but residents.