The Wil Tower is a wooden

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

which was built in the forest of

Wil Wil () is the capital of the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St. Gallen and Rapperswil-Jona, a twin city that merged in ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Julius Natterer Julius Natterer, (December 5, 1938 – October 25, 2021), was a German engineer and professor of wood construction at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Career Julius Natterer studied at the Technical University of Munich ...

. The tower site is located some above sea level. It was opened for public use on 8 July 2006.

Construction

The tower is an open structure, rising on 6 slanted columns from three equidistant ground support points. A circular stairway (189 steps) rises in the center of the columns, opening onto a roofed observation deck. Although the structure rises some above the ground, the deck is barely above the surrounding trees.A picture of the tower may be found at http://wiler.turm.ch, the Official Website of the installation The structure is entirely of wood, all obtained from the surrounding forest. The columns are

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

and the stairway is of

Silver fir Silver fir is a common name for several trees and may refer to: *''Abies alba'', native to Europe *''Abies amabilis'', native to western North America *''Abies pindrow ''Abies pindrow'', the pindrow fir or west Himalayan fir, is a fir native ...

. The wood was harvested in the early months of 2005 and allowed to dry naturally for a year before construction began.

References

{{coord, 47, 28, 42.78, N, 9, 2, 57.27, E, region:CH-SG_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Towers completed in 2006 Towers in Switzerland Buildings and structures in the canton of St. Gallen Tourist attractions in the canton of St. Gallen Wil Wooden towers 21st-century architecture in Switzerland