Tom Wright, a British architect, was born in Croydon England. He first studied at the Royal Russell School, and then later attended the Kingston University School of Architecture. Wright was qualified in 1983, and eventually became a director of the architectural practice Lister Drew Haines Barrow, which was taken over by Atkins in 1991. Wright is known for designing the Burj Al Arab located in Dubai, UAE. This project is his most famous and extraordinary work. It was what made him a great modern architect. The Burj Al Arab is Tom Wright’s most significant and notable work of his architectural career.
To begin with, Wright began designing the Burj Al Arab in October 1993. The modern sail shape of the hotel was associated with the sport of sailing, and was totally different from any other known world building. This gave the Burj Al Arab a chance of becoming an icon. Two weeks after designing the sketch, it was presented to the client. At the end of the presentation the scheme was approved and construction was to start immediately. Wright was basically building an island with a hotel on it. The island was 300M off shore and in 6M deep water. This was a very creative building, which really demonstrated Tom Wright’s strengths.
In addition, Tom Wright also built the Millennium Residence in Bangkok, Thailand. Millennium Residence sits on a 2.4 hectare site in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok. The four 53 story residential tri-petal towers are built along a central curved axis, and each one is raised on grand structural columns that float the apartments above a landscaped park. There are 604 apartments, and each apartment has views out on three sides. The award winning Millennium Residence also became the first project in Thailand to receive a Green Mark Gold Accreditation from the Building Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore. The BCA Green Mark Scheme promotes sustainability in the Asian built environment, raising environmental awareness among developers, designers and builders from project conceptualization and design as well as construction.
In conclusion, Tom Wright is a very successful architect. He recently left Atkins in 2013 with two other design directors, Hakim Khennouchi and Geku Kuruvilla, to create WKK. WKK is a new practice dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in architecture, master planning and design. They currently have a lot of different designs that are still in progress. Many of his buildings are located in Dubai, but there are other locations such as Libya, Indonesia, and Thailand.
1) Burj Al Arab – Dubai, UAE
2) Millennium Residence – Bangkok, Thailand
3) Jumeirah Beach Hotel – Dubai, UAE
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