Fear not Elizabeth. A series of monoliths is a thing that can not be

tuco said :

I am curious about the collective noun. A series of monoliths sounds boring.
So … an approval of monoliths? A rising of monoliths? An erection of monoliths?

A Simon or Garfunkel of monoliths…

I am curious about the collective noun. A series of monoliths sounds boring.
So … an approval of monoliths? A rising of monoliths? An erection of monoliths?

She’s full of it.

This from the Canberra TImes in January:

“There is chilling irony in that it is the ACT government’s own directorates that proposed, 12 months ago, high-rise buildings of 15 storeys that would overlook in the most crudely insensitive manner one of Canberra’s most successful medium-density developments, i.e. the 144 apartments of Argyle Square, 2-4 storeys high, set in carefully landscaped and maintained communal gardens.”

I know of some students who live in these apartments, it may have been successful once, but that was a long time ago. Very dated, and some of the apartments have been taken over by unsavoury elements. Probably the best thing that could happen to them is a bit of oversight.

Having read the ABC’s take on this news story I’m beginning to have some sympathy for the complainers. Correct me if I’m wrong but the plan is to basically build more and more of the Allawah courts/suicide flats type buildings in Braddon/Reid isn’t it? Ainslie Avenue is already a pretty scuzzy place thanks to the buildings like that it’s already got, increasing the government housing in the area with more high-rises just seems like a bad-idea. There’s already a glut of drug-addicts and dealers in the area, I don’t think building more project-housing is going to do much good.

Sounds like a great pick up line:

“Mr Developer, is that a monolithic high rise in your pants, or are you just glad to see me???”

As soon as someone mentions the word ‘nimby’ I switch off, as the debate about density is derogatory and name calling at best. Ian Warden loves to use that word yet he knows nothing about planing.

Increased density doesn’t have to mean High rise which is a lazy way to create density. Six – eight storeys should be fine for this site. The energy performance of buildings over ten storeys increases considerably making them no better than stand alone houses. The trade off as developers will tell you is more people will use public transport and active travel. The link between density and public transport is at best (particularly in Aus) a hopeful one. People certainly don’t cycle more, because its about the quality of the infrastructure that encourages more people to cycle.

So lets dump words like ‘Nimby’ and ‘Banana’ and keep the debate to good design and human scale development.
‘

Mind you, the more I think of this term ‘a series of monoliths’, the more I think it would be quite a good title for a book of poetry. Although ‘A Series of Monotremes’ might be better.

And not a single photo of Ayer’s Rock…

i think these grammar nazi stories are some of my favourite reads… don’t despair, hd! 🙂

3. In extended use. Resembling a monolith; massive, immovable; homogeneous, characterless (esp. applied to a building). Also, of an organization, party, government, etc.: large, powerful or monopolistic; intractably indivisible and uniform.

1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) i. 41 The pile of the Board of Trade Building, black, grave, monolithic, crouching on its foundations, like a monstrous sphinx with blind eyes.
1922 D. H. Lawrence England, my England 87 Maurice had a curious monolithic way of sitting in a chair, erect and distant.
1937 Nation (N.Y.) 10 July 32/1 The monolithic corporation talks loudly to the workers.
1945 A. L. Rowse West-Country Stories 26 The Fourth Symphony of Sibelius, the most monolithic of them all.
1971 Nature 7 May 2/2 But would not the merging of the research councils create too monolithic a central sponsor?
1992 A. Taylor Raven on Water (BNC) 99 She worked for the British Council in the monolithic Spring Gardens building between the Mall and Trafalgar Square.

Onya, Elizabeth. We’ve lost too much of our heritage to these fugly blocks of flats. Continue to be Not Intimidated by Men in the Building IndustrY.

A super high rise dead black Arthur C Clarke style monolithic building would look amazing.

Being an Inner North resident, I personally don’t think they should go too high on that side of the city. You can still get a lot of density with limited height and good design. The new acton area is the place for high rise in my opinion, especially with the proposed future lake developments. Just jam it all in there.

Phwoar! That’s a luvverly display of monoliths.

I believe Ozymandias was an Inner Northican planner/developer (they didn’t bother with the subtle distinctions in those days).

Hmmm.

I can also use a dictionary:

metaphor
(noun)
a figure of speech in which a term is applied to something which is not literally applicable, to suggest a resemblance.