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Architecture vocabulary · Urban Planning and Design

Floor area ratio

Meaning in architecture, with examples

nounCommon term

In architecture, floor area ratio means: The total floor area of all storeys of a building divided by the area of its plot; a ratio of 2 means you can build twice the plot area in total.

In Turkish: emsal, KAKS (kat alanları katsayısı)

How it is used

Central in feasibility studies and planning negotiations. Usually shortened to FAR in American English; British English often says plot ratio. Planning rules set a maximum, and which areas count towards it varies from place to place.

Example sentences

  1. With a floor area ratio of 1.5, we can build 3,000 square metres on this 2,000-square-metre plot.

  2. The developer asked whether the basement counts towards the floor area ratio.

Common collocations

  • maximum floor area ratio
  • FAR
  • plot ratio
  • count towards the floor area ratio
  • footprintThe area of ground that a building covers, measured by the outline of its outer walls at ground level.
  • densityHow much building, or how many homes or people, there is on a given area of land, often measured in dwellings or people per hectare.
  • zoningThe system of dividing a city into areas where only certain uses, such as housing, offices or industry, and certain building sizes are allowed.
  • setbackThe minimum distance a building must keep from a plot boundary or street, set by planning rules; also an upper part of a building stepped back from the floor below.
  • feasibility studyAn early study that tests whether a project is possible and worthwhile on a given site, looking at planning rules, floor area, cost, brief and risks.

More terms: Urban Planning and Design

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