On May 20, 2025 – At the Hanoi Party Committee Hall (No. 9 Ngo Quyen, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi), the conference “Vietnamese Architecture – 50 years of national reunification” took place. Implementing the direction of the Secretariat and plan 390-KH/BTGTW dated November 15, 2023 of the Central Propaganda Department (now the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department), with the support of the Hanoi Party Committee – People’s Committee; The workshop is part of a series of events organized by the Vietnam Association of Architects in the Program summarizing 50 years of Vietnamese Literature and Arts after the country’s reunification (1975-2025).
The conference was carefully prepared by the Vietnam Association of Architects with the participation of the Hanoi Association of Architects, the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects, local Associations and Branches of Architects and architects nationwide – Aiming to share multi-faceted perspectives on achievements and shortcomings, propose directions, solutions, and contribute to the development of sustainable, modern and unique Vietnamese architecture.
The conference had the participation of central ministries and branches: Associate Professor, Dr. Bui The Duc – Former Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission, Vice Chairman of the Central Council for Literature and Arts Theory; Ms. Tran Phuong Lan – Director of the Department of Culture and Arts, Central Propaganda and Education Commission; Mr. Pham Trung Giang – Deputy Head of the Department of Non-governmental Organizations, Ministry of Home Affairs; On the side of the Hanoi Party Committee: Dr. Architect Duong Duc Tuan – Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee; Mr. Nguyen Trong Ky Anh – Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture; Associations, central and local associations; Dr. Architect Phan Dang Son – President of the Vietnam Association of Architects, together with leaders of the Association, representatives of central and Hanoi departments and branches, press agencies and many architects across the country.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Architect Dang Kim Khoi – Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Architects shared: “In the past few days, the Vietnam Association of Architects and architects across the country are living in great anniversaries: 50 years of national reunification, 80 years of the founding of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Today’s workshop will be an opportunity for architects and the community to look at and reflect, consider and research analytical issues, thereby finding advantages and disadvantages to move towards a national architecture that increasingly blossoms and bears fruit, rich in identity, imbued with modernity and integration.”
Attending the conference, Dr. Architect Duong Duc Tuan – Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee also acknowledged and highly appreciated the companionship and positive contributions of the Vietnam Association of Architects to the development of the country over the past half century. He expressed: “The orientation for a Hanoi architecture that is both modern, imbued with identity, and in harmony with the natural environment is still an important task in the future, and our conference today will contribute many ideas to help Hanoi have more basis for directing implementation. Hanoi City is looking forward to receiving many valuable ideas from the conference “Vietnamese Architecture – 50 years of national unification”. At the same time, he believed: “The road ahead for the architecture industry still has many difficulties and challenges, but I believe that Vietnamese architecture will continue to develop sustainably, contributing to bringing the country forward in the new era.”
With the tireless efforts of many generations of architects, after 50 years of unification, our country has achieved many achievements and remarkable changes in the field of construction and design in both quality and quantity across the country. The conference had the participation of many authors from different generations, in the fields of architecture: Planning, Creation, Research – Theory – Criticism – Debate, Training, State management… With the presentations and discussions containing much enthusiasm of the architects attending the conference, the issues of Vietnamese architecture in the past 50 years were strung together into a system vertically in time and horizontally integrating branches, into a complete and concise “flow”. Comments on the advantages and disadvantages of Vietnamese architecture in 50 years were shared from a straightforward perspective, in the spirit of seeking knowledge of experts.
That is the general perspective from Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Thong with Introduction to Vietnamese Architecture – 50 years of national reunification”; perspective on the transformation process between urban and rural areas through the presentation “Creating Vietnamese living space: From urban to rural areas in the period 1975-2025” by Architect La Thi Kim Ngan – Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Association of Architects; Indirect perspective through architectural works through the presentation “50 years of Vietnamese architecture – authors, works and era” by Architect Hoang Thuc Hao, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Architects; Perspective on the architectural development process through big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City through the presentation: “Imprints of the Capital’s Architecture after 50 years of national reunification” by Dr. Architect Nguyen Van Hai – Chairman of Hanoi Architects Association and “Nature and Human with Ho Chi Minh City Architecture” by Architect Nguyen Truong Luu – Vice Chairman of Vietnam Architects Association, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Architects Association; Perspectives on Architectural training over the past 50 years through the presentation “50 years of architect training at Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture”; Traditional perspectives on Vietnamese architecture after Doi Moi through the presentation of Architect Nguyen Manh Tri, in Topic VH.02.02 of Vietnam Architects Association.
Following the presentation is a discussion between speakers, experts, architects and guests, with more diverse and comprehensive opinions on the achievements, trends, results, limitations and existence of Vietnamese architecture over the past 50 years, thereby providing future architectural orientations. The discussion had the participation of the Architect. Nguyen Thu Phong – Vice Chairman of Vietnam Architects Association; Dr. Architect. Nguyen Hoang Minh – Training Expert; Dr. Architect Pham Anh Tuan – Landscape Architecture Expert; Dr. Architect Nguyen Tat Thang – Architecture Theory and Criticism Expert; Architect Doan Thanh Ha – a face with many achievements in architectural design, has received many important international awards from UIA, ARCASIA and many other organizations; Architect Le Thanh Vinh – Architectural Heritage Conservation Expert, under the coordination of Dr. Architect Nguyen Quoc Tuan.
According to Architect Le Thanh Vinh: “Tradition is the preservation, selection, transmission, and combination. Each stage creates a new tradition, and the work of architects is to combine and inherit traditional values to create new values.”
On the other hand, regarding the theory of architectural criticism, Architect Nguyen Tat Thang also said: “Our Vietnamese architectural theory has not yet laid a foundation or provided direction for it because we have not paid attention to it. Therefore, we need to develop critical theory, especially the scientific theory of Vietnamese architecture, and include this content in the architectural law; the Vietnam Association of Architects should build a theoretical basis for criticism; and build a framework of criteria for theory and criticism so that everyone can participate.”
Architect Doan Thanh Ha shared: “I think, because of the characteristics of each region, locality and needs, we need cultural diversity. And in the future, with adaptive changes, we will find new identities and trends, and should not be limited to any scope.”
Regarding landscape development, Architect Nguyen Tuan Anh shared: “According to the transition of each stage, changes in the Law, climate change, urban development, Landscape Architecture has undergone great changes. With a rapid approach, Vietnamese landscape architects have made great strides, keeping up with international trends. And now, we also have landscape infrastructure, native landscapes… thereby creating typical landscapes in Vietnam.”
Regarding training orientation, Architect Nguyen Viet Huy proposed: “Through the training process, applying training methods in the world, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering has organized many programs and competitions for students and not limited to Hanoi Civil Engineering students, to create good opportunities for students to challenge, compete, and approach domestic and international architectural trends. Architecture is a profession that requires a lot of practice, so we need to create an environment for students to access. At the same time, in my opinion, there should be more support from associations and organizations to encourage students to have more opportunities to integrate internationally in the near future”
Attending the conference, Architect Vo Quoc Thai – Hai Phong Architects Association also shared about Hai Phong Architecture in recent years, which has been shaped into a city with the true nature of a seaport city, closely linked to the geographical location of the city. That is also a good orientation for architectural development in each province in the near future.
Sharing the perspective of international architects on Vietnamese architecture, Architect Nguyen Thu Phong said: “According to the views of international architects, whom I had the opportunity to meet at a number of international events in the past year, Vietnamese architects have made very admirable developments in residential architecture. Vietnamese architecture has extremely rich cultural, identity and material qualities. That is an independent view from the outside, but it is a very precious value for our architecture. Vietnamese architecture is receiving great attention and expectations from society. And we need to shoulder and cope with this attention and expectation. We need to be stronger, to make architecture more clearly visible in life.”
Closing the conference, Dr. Architect Phan Dang Son, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Architects affirmed the contributions of the profession in the process of developing the country in recent times; At the same time, share the message of the profession, of the Vietnam Association of Architects: “Looking back on the 50-year journey, architects can be proud and think about the gaps that the planning and architecture fields are still lacking, so that they can have a new mindset, a new vision, new creativity to strive to develop the country’s architecture sustainably, modernly, civilized and with identity, taking people as the center, in the new era of development, the era of the nation’s rise under the leadership of the Party and the State.”
Previously, on April 19, 2025, in the heroic and exciting atmosphere of the whole country celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s reunification (April 30, 1975 – April 30, 2025), the Workshop with the same theme took place in the city named after Uncle Ho with the support of the City Party Committee, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, the direction of the Vietnam Association of Architects and the coordination of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects.
On this occasion, the Vietnam Association of Architects held the 16th National Architecture Award Ceremony (2024-2025) on the evening of May 20, 2025 at the Hanoi Opera House, honoring the Authors – Outstanding Works in the field of Architecture – Planning – Construction of the country. This is the most prestigious national award in the field of architecture, assigned by the Prime Minister to the Vietnam Association of Architects, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Culture – Sports and Tourism to jointly organize.
Thuy An – TCKT.VN
© Vietnam Architecture Magazine
