Tom Wright is the architect who designed the iconic Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai. The client briefed Wright to design a building that would become a symbol of Dubai like the Sydney Opera House is to Sydney. Wright's initial concept sketches featured a sail-like shape for the hotel, intended to reference Dubai's maritime heritage and culture of luxury travel. The finished Burj al Arab hotel is built on its own artificial island and supported by deep foundation columns, featuring unusual materials and engineering challenges that contribute to its symbolic and iconic status.

1. Design
Tom Wright
Tom Wright is the architect and designer of the Burj al Arab in
Dubai, UAE.
The Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs) was conceived in October 1993 and completed on site
in 1999. The lower left image shows Tom Wright′s first drawing of the Burj al Arab concept
that was shown to the client in October 1993 which along with the simple card model shown
above convinced the client that the tower should be built. The felt pen illustration to the left
was an early development sketch of the hotel drawn by Wright on a paper serviette whilst
he sat on the terrace of the Chicago Beach hotel which stood adjacent to the site of the Burj
al Arab.
The brief to the architect was to create an icon for Dubai, a building that would become
synonymous with the place, as Sydney has its opera house and Paris the Eiffel Tower so
Dubai was to have the Burj al Arab. On the links page the Atkins Press pack can be
downloaded which contains further information on the Burj al Arab.
Tom Wright lived in Dubai during the design and construction of the project working as the
project Design Director for Atkins one of the world′s leading multi discipline design
consultancies.
Since 1999 Tom Wright has continued to work for Atkins as Head of Architecture from the
Atkins H.Q. in Epsom, London.
Tom Wright is British, born in Croydon a suburb of London on 18th September 1957.
Educated at the Royal Russell School and then Kingston Polytechnic school of Architecture.
Wright became a member of the Royal institute of British Architects in 1983 and has been in
practice ever since.
FAQ questions & answers on the design of Burj Al Arab hotel by Tom Wright, Design Director
What was the brief for the hotel?
The client asked us to design a building that would become a symbol for Dubai. Sidney has
it’s Opera House and New York has the Statue of Liberty so Dubai would also have a
building that people would associate with the place.

2. What makes a building symbolic?
We looked at the other buildings in the world that are symbols to see what they had in
common. We found that they were all totally unique in shape and they all have a simple
easily recognisable form. We decided that the test to determine if a building is symbolic is if
you can draw it in 5 seconds and every one recognises it.
Why did you make the hotel look like a giant sail?
Dubai is becoming a world resort location so the building had to say holiday, fun and
sophistication all things associated with yachting. This mixed with Dubai’s nautical heritage
it seemed an appropriate shape.
Why is the hotel out to sea?
It helps its uniqueness. It looks like a sail / boat. If it was on shore it would block the sun
on the beach in the middle of the day.
Does the hotel stand on rock?
The building is built on sand, which is unusual as most tall building are founded on rock. The
building is supported on 250 1.5M diameter columns that go 45 meters under the sea. As
there is only sand to hold the building up the columns rely on friction.
Are there any unusual materials used in the building?
The screen that encloses the third side of the atrium is made of 1mm thick glass fibre fabric
with a Teflon coat to stop the dirt sticking. The screen is the largest of it’s type and covers
an area of one and a half football pitch and is hung from the top of the building by over a
kilometre of 52mm cable.
Other amazing facts…
The diagonal trusses on the side of the building are as long as a football pitch and weigh as
much as 20 double-decker busses. They were built 15 KM from the site and brought by road
to Dubai on huge 80 wheel lorries which had to be specially imported from South Africa. The
highest truss took a day to lift into place.
If one man was to build the building himself it would take about 8,000 years to finish.