Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies

The research institute on the Iosephinum development area in Piliscsaba was constructed after the drawings of Imre Makovecz, who originally made these sketches for another, similar building. The three-storey mass with a round ground plan is organised around a covered atrium – aula – closed with a dome and lit with a glazed lantern. The mass of the building shows kinship with the architectural traditions of the Middle East, which is the institute’s research area, as well as with the space-forming in European cultures. The wingshaped parapets are emblematic elements of Makovecz’s architecture but its prefguration can be found in Christian and Middle Eastern cultures alike. The energy efciency of the Avicenna research institute’s building is almost zero.