Sumaya Dabbagh

Owner and Architect

Sumaya Dabbagh is a Saudi architect educated in the UK. She founded Dabbagh Architects in 2008. Since then, she has completed a number of significant projects that address intangible notions such as memory, identity, and belonging. Dabbagh’s approach to contextual architecture is one that is driven by the connection to the land. This approach has been demonstrated throughout the practice’s body of work, shaping a new emerging architecture in the Gulf Region. The multi award-winning projects such as Mleiha Archaeological Centre as well as Gargash Mosque have been globally recognised as significant examples of this approach to architecture in the region. The Al Ain Museum, currently under construction, is another example of their sensitive, contextual designs. Dabbagh has further amplified the practice’s message in their recent installation “Earth To Earth”, presented as part of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial second edition, opened in Nov 2023 in Sharjah, UAE. Born in Jeddah and educated at Bath University, she began her career in London and Paris before founding Dabbagh Architects in Dubai in 2008, becoming one of the first women to establish an architecture practice in the UAE. She founded and chaired the RIBA Gulf Chapter between 2015 and 2019, and the Mohammed Abdulkhaliq Gargash Mosque she completed in 2021 is among the first mosques in the UAE designed by a woman.