The Order of Architects of Romania (OAR), with the support of the OAR Mureș Territorial Branch, together with the Contracting Authority – the Municipality of Târgu Mureș, officially announces the launch of the International Design Competition “Mureș Parks, Târgu Mureș – The green-blue ensemble Hipodrom Park, Municipal Park, Turbine Canal”.
The competition aims to select the best solution for the development of the green-blue ensemble Hipodrom Park – Municipal Park – Turbine Canal in Târgu Mureș, for the purpose of awarding the design services contract.
The historical development and urban structure of the Municipality of Târgu Mureș have been strongly shaped by the presence of watercourses: the Mureș River with its various branches and meanders, as well as its tributaries. The city’s relationship with the different watercourses has, over time, resulted either in the construction of infrastructure intended to keep the river away from the city, or in interventions that integrated the watercourses into the urban fabric through their regulation, channeling, or underground drainage.
The competition’s stake is the reintegration of the green-blue natural area associated with the Mureș watercourses into the urban space through the creation of a new major park system that would restore Târgu Mureș’s identity as a city on the Mureș. The goal is to amplify landscape, ecological and urban climate-resilience values, while also providing improved infrastructure for sustainable urban mobility (pedestrian and cycling) and a wide range of spaces for recreation, socializing, relaxation and leisure, outdoor exercise and play.
The area covered by the competition currently consists of isolated fragments of green spaces resulting from various construction and densification operations within the Mureș river meadow. Reintegrating the fragments of nature aims both to re-establish ecological continuity along the historical riverbed of the Mureș, and to create and reactivate promenade spaces and connections with the river’s nature, in close relation to the historic core of the city.
With the reunification of the different green fragments of the Mureș (Hipodrom area, Dead Arm, Mureș riverbank, Municipal Park, Turbine Canal) into a coherent natural and urban network, the Hipodrom area and the entire chain of parks on the Mureș have the potential to become a green urban landmark within the city’s public space network, and an ecological and symbolic link with the Mureș.
The Contracting Authority of the competition is the Municipality of Târgu Mureș, which will become the beneficiary of the contracted project following the competition.
The competition is organized by the Order of Architects of Romania (OAR), in accordance with the provisions of the OAR Good Practice Guide for Organizing Design Competitions, 2018 (rev. 2025), and in compliance with the legal provisions in force regarding the award of public procurement contracts. The design competition is public, single-stage, open to Romania, the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area, and the Swiss Confederation. The design competition is organized as an independent procedure pursuant to Article 105(a) of Law no. 98/2016 on public procurement; subsequently, based on Article 104(7) of the same law, the design services contract will be awarded to the winning competitor through a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice.
COMPETITION JURY
| Full members | Alternate members |
| – landscape arch. Sarah Anne Cowles- landscape arch. Julie Lilas Martineau- arch. Bogdan Severus Demetrescu- landscape architect Albert Fekete- arch., urban planner Angela Kovacs- arch. Daniela Florina Miheț – Contracting Authority Representative- landscape arch. Henri Bava | – landscape arch. Ada Diana Codrean- arch., urban planner Tamas Iszlai |
PRIZES
AWARDED
| RANK | PRIZE |
| 1st Place | Prize amount of 228.199,50 RON excl. VAT ja estimated value of the design services contract – 14.952.128,21 RON excl. VAT |
| 2nd Place | Prize amount of 177.488,50 RON excl. VAT |
| 3rd Place | Prize amount of 126.777,50 RON excl. VAT |
| 4th Place | Prize amount of 76.066,50 RON excl. VAT – mention 1 |
| 5th Place | Prize amount of 76.066,50 RON excl. VAT – mention 2 |
| 6th Place | Prize amount of 76.066,50 RON excl. VAT – mention 3 |
COMPETITION CALENDAR
| Activity | Proposed period |
| Official launch of the competition | Date of official launch in SEAP |
| Site visit registration | 29 January (Thursday) |
| Site visit | 31 January (Saturday) |
| Deadline to receive questionsRound 1 | 2 February, 12:00 (Monday) |
| Deadline to answer questionsRound 1 | 11 February (Wednesday) |
| Deadline to receive questionsRound 2 | 31 March, 12:00 (Tuesday) |
| Deadline to answer questionsRound 2 | 9 April 2026 (Thursday) |
| Project submission deadline | 20 April 2026, 16:00 (Monday) |
| Formal review of projects(technical committee verification) | 21-23 April (Tuesday-Thursday) |
| Jury deliberation | 24-27 April (Friday-Monday) |
| Official announcement of the winner andpublication of results(press conference with the jury) | 28 April (Tuesday) |
| Publication of the project galleryon the official competition website | 28 April – 5 May |
| Deadline for submitting appeals | 10 days from publication of the results in SEAP |
| Prize payments | 30 calendar days from submission of the documents by winners to the registry of the Contracting Authority, but no later than 60 calendar days from the deadline for submitting appeals or from the settlement of appeals (if applicable). |
| Start of negotiation procedure and contracting of the winner(sending the invitation to negotiate) | 45 calendar days from submission of the documents by winners to the registry of the Contracting Authority, but no later than 75 calendar days from the deadline for submitting appeals or from the settlement of appeals (if applicable). |
| Estimated – design services contract duration | 60 months |
More details can be found on the official competition page:
EN: https://oar.archi/en/concursuri/oar/mures-parks/
We also invite you to follow the announcements and news regarding the competition on the following official Facebook pages:
Order of Architects of Romania – https://www.facebook.com/OARNational/
OAR Competitions – https://www.facebook.com/oar.concursuri/
