Avicenna
Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, Piliscsaba
2019

The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies was created with the aim of providing support for Hungarian foreign relations by supporting scientific research dealing with Islamic countries, developing research and education and raising the next generation of researchers. Implementation was entrusted to the Foundation for the Development of Iosephinum, an organization founded by Imre Makovecz, the designing architect of Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Piliscsaba.

In addition, the Institute aims to promote the university education of Arabic and Iranian Studies by writing textbooks, acquiring books for domestic researchers, inviting foreign researchers and educators, organizing conferences and promoting professional cooperation. The library in Piliscsaba has more than ten thousand volumes of technical books.

After the death of Imre Makovecz, the Hungarian government adopted a resolution about caring for and cultivating his legacy, which represents great cultural and national value, by supporting renovations and investments based on existing plans.

Inaugurated in 2019, the Avicenna, which is the first construction in a proposed larger research facility, was built in the spirit of this resolution. Based on the unique, but unrealized design created by Makovecz for the Fészek Waldorf School in Solymár, the new plans were created by Attila Turi, an apprentice and colleague of the Master, with the support of the Makovecz family.

In this case, the core concept developed in the first draft applies to the entire building, right down to the finest details. However, grappling with new demands, the space was warped to the limit and the rotunda was replaced with a disk. Turi regards the first version as the original source that holds the Master's vision, which is always there in the background and palpable in the layout, the structure and the details. Even though the basic proportions were changed, the Master had created drafts for the entire complex structure of the expanding school, which was used for drawing up Avicenna's plans. Its current form shows that the details of various drafts drawn up at different times were integrated into a single system, while the underlying idea was left unchanged. The main entrance proved to be a bit of a headache, since it was left out of all plans. In the end, considering the similarity of themes, the Master's drawings of Egypt were used to create a tribute to his work, using characteristic iconography.

It should be noted that the building is a zero net energy structure.