Tom Wright (born 18 September 1957) is a British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

best known as the designer of the

Burj Al Arab The Jumeirah Burj Al Arab (, ), commonly known as Burj Al Arab, is a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Developed and managed by Jumeirah, it is one of the tallest hotels in the world, although 39% of its total height is made up of ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, United Arab Emirates.

Biography

Born in Shirley, Croydon,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

in 1957, Wright studied at the Royal Russell School and then later at the

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

School of Architecture. Wright qualified as an architect in 1983, the same year he was accepted as a member of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

, and went on from there to become a director of the architectural practice Lister Drew Haines Barrow, which was taken over in 1991 by Atkins. Wright became head of Atkins' architecture arm. Wright became design director for the Jumeirah Beach Resort, Dubai, and designed the

(Tower of the Arabs) during that time. It was conceived in October 1994 and finished in 1999. The brief was to create an icon for Dubai: a building that would become synonymous with the city, as the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

is with

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

is with

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The hotel is built in the shape of a

dhow Dhow (; ) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels ...

's (a traditional Arabic ship) sail to reflect Dubai's seafaring heritage combined with a modern aspect moving forwards into the future. It costs $2,700 on average per night to book a room at the hotel. In 2013 Tom Wright, Geku Kuruvilla George, and Hakim Khennouchi left Atkins to create a new practice called KKK Architects incorporated in July 2013. KKK was restructured and WKA (Wright Kuruvilla Architects Ltd) was formed in March 2024. In 2023, the Ribbon Building, one of Tom Wright's architectures, was opened in Iran and in Tehran. The three functions of the building are visually split by a flowing silver ribbon of cladding and light. This single dramatic device helps transform a simple, efficient structure into a memorable landmark. One of White's most recent projects is the co-design of Celebrity Cruises' new ship, Celebrity Edge, which brings a number of innovations to the cruise ship industry.

References

External links

Tom Wright websiteWKA (Wright Kuruvilla Architects Ltd) website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Tom 1957 births Living people Architects from Surrey People educated at Royal Russell School Alumni of Kingston University