For a developing city,
time is a valuable factor in the process of development. Therefore, it is
important for an ‘architectural marker’ to exist as a milestone to commemorate
the rapid growth of the city. Owing to the fact that throughout the history, architecture
is the biggest, most significant, man-made object that plays an important role
in fabricating the physical appearance of the city along with its geographical
features. To make a successful ‘architectural marker’, it is relevant that a
harmonious relationship exists between the sense of community, economic growth
of the city, and the cultural and artistic values behind it.
In many developing cities, symbolic architectures were constructed in relation to the municipal buildings as to display the prosperity and the development of the city. Shenzhen, one of the world's fastest developing city, contains many examples of symbolic architecture such as the Grand Theatre which was built to witness the reform of the country and the Shenzhen Concert Hall which was built as a milestone during the relocation of the main municipal building of Shenzhen. However, these symbolic architectures are not considered as architectural markers since they lacked the sense of community within the architecture itself.
