In the wake of Reunification all efforts were focused on the need to re-establish the national infrastructure. Many new public buildings were constructed in monumental Soviet style during the 1970s and 1980s, their design intended to reflect the power of the state and its ideology.

This period produced some works of major heritage significance, notably the Việt Nam-Soviet Friendship Workers Cultural Palace (Cung Văn hóa Lao động Hữu nghị Việt-Xô, 1985) and the Hồ Chí Minh Museum (Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh, 1990) in Hà Nội and the Hòa Bình Theatre (Nhà hát Hòa Bình, 1985) in Hồ Chí Minh City. However, the unsympathetic siting of other new public buildings close to significant structures from earlier periods, such as the Government Guest House (Nhà khách Nhà nước) and the People's Committee Building (Ủy ban Nhân dân) in Hà Nội, has engendered some controversy in architectural circles.

Since đổi mới international joint-venture high-rise hotel and office towers with glass curtain walls, apartment blocks, luxury hotels and shopping malls have proliferated in the central districts of both Hồ Chí Minh City and Hà Nội, generating heated debate about Việt Nam's cultural heritage and the extent to which it should be protected from change. Another important issue of recent years has been the fact that since đổi mới individuals have had the right to build their own homes and to make money from their property. Predictably, the initial explosion of new building outstripped planning, leading to a great deal of unsystematic residential development such as that in the vicinity of the West Lake north of Hà Nội and in many parts of that city's Old Quarter.