- Heritage Conservation Expert
Specialized in structural interventions and the restoration of historical buildings. - International Experience
Participated in restoration training and projects organized by ICOMOS UK and US ICOMOS. - Notable Projects
Contributed to the restoration of important buildings such as the Farkas Street Reformed Church, St. Michael’s Church in Cluj-Napoca, and the Roman Catholic Bishop’s Palace in Oradea. - Academic Contributions
Teaches at Babeș-Bolyai University and the “December 1, 1918” University in the field of heritage conservation and restoration. - Leadership Roles
Leads teams at the design offices Irod M and ConsolideM, contributing to the restoration of over 360 historical monuments. - Europa Nostra Award
Received the Europa Nostra Award in 2024 for the restoration of St. Michael’s Church in Cluj-Napoca. - Focus on Baroque Structures
Conducted extensive research and wrote a doctoral dissertation on Baroque roof structures, under the coordination of Dr. Szabó Bálint.
Dr. ing. Dorottya Makay is a lecturer at the Built Heritage Conservation Training of the course “Structural interventions. Case studies”.
Ever since her undergraduate years at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Civil Engineering, which coincided with the launch, in 1992, of the International Conference Series on Theoretical and Practical Issues of Built Heritage Conservation – TUSNAD, she was (irrevocably) conquered by historic buildings, more precisely their load-bearing structures. She had the honour to learn the craft from renowned specialists from home and abroad – graduating not only from the training in Historic Building Conservation at the Faculty of Architecture at the Budapest University of Technology in Budapest (1996-98), but also through international internships (at ICOMOS UK in 1996 and ICOMOS US in 2003) and by organising the Built Heritage Conservation Training (BHCT) course series (2000-ACTT, 2001-2002), where she later became a lecturer from 2007 until the present –, and to participate in the development of Transylvanian professional research and design systems (Utilitas 1994-2003 Transylvania Trust 1996-).
Her main activity is carried out in the design firms Irod M (since 2003) and ConsolideM (since 2014), leading the team of specialists in the rehabilitation of historic load-bearing structures, elaborating studies and designs, as well as providing technical assistance for dozens of monuments annually (over 30 annually since the pandemic).
Among the completed projects are the Calvinist churches in Sic and on Kogălniceanu Street in Cluj, the Roman Catholic Episcopal Palace in Oradea and St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Cluj, which was recently awarded the Europa Nostra prize for restoration and adaptive reuse in 2024. In total, she has studied/designed the conservation of over 360 buildings in the last 20 years, most of which have been implemented.
Her professional attention has already been focused since the mid ‘90s on historic roof structures in general and those with Baroque character in particular – the subject of her PhD thesis (2003): Baroque Structural Concept – Contributions to the Research of Historic Roof Structures with Baroque Character – coordinated by Professor: dr. Bálint Szabó, 1944-2024. The similarities between historical roof structures and the load-bearing structures of wooden churches opened her sphere of interest to these elements of built heritage as well, and since 2017 she’s been focusing not only on Transylvania, but in general on Romania and the Carpathian Basin.
In addition to her core activity, she considers extremely important the education of future generations through her teaching activity: since 2018 at the “1 December 1918” University in Alba Iulia, but also at the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, within the Training and Professional Development Programme in Built Heritage Conservation and Rehabilitation.
