Tom Wright

Tom Wright (born 18 September 1957) is a British architect best known as the designer of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Biography Born in Shirley, Croydon, Surrey in 1957, Wright studied at the Royal Russell School and then later at the Kingston University School of Architecture. Wright qualified as an architect in 1983,

Wright became design director for the Jumeirah Beach Resort, Dubai, and designed the Burj Al Arab (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 is with Sydney and the Eiffel Tower is with Paris. The hotel is built in the shape of a dhow'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 WKK Architects incorporated in July 2013. WKK 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 Tehran, in Iran. The three functions of the building are visually split by a silver ribbon.

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.