The city builder
Sumaya Al Dabbagh says the UAE was always the best place to pursue a career as an architect because the profession was not open to Saudi women at the time she started.
After graduating from University of Bath in the UK, she worked in London and Paris for a few years before moving to the UAE in 1993.
“I really felt that I wanted to connect with my roots but at the time Saudi was not an option for me to practise,” says Sumaya, founder of Dabbagh Architects and designer Effa’s sister (right).
“I had family in Dubai so I came here and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know much about Dubai being such a melting point of different cultures.”
She says her situation was unquestionably “the best of both worlds”.
“Obviously Dubai was a booming city so it was kind of an architect’s dream to be working here,” Sumaya says.
“As a young architect at the time I had an opportunity to work on big projects.” She worked on Children’s City, a project managed by Dubai Municipality, which was completed in 2002. And after founding her own company she worked on Mleiha Archaeological Centre in Sharjah, which was finished in 2016.
Sumaya believes the Emirati and Saudi cultures “complement each other in a way”, and that with all of the UAE’s trade shows and business opportunities, the Emirates has provided Saudis with a place to evolve.
Her goal now, she says, is to help the market for architects to evolve in the Gulf region, so there is less need for foreign talent “to build our cities”.
“It’s been a very good journey for me here and I’m obviously very connected with Saudi Arabia,” Sumaya says.