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Architecture vocabulary · Urban Planning and Design

Footprint

Meaning in architecture, with examples

/ˈfʊtprɪnt/nounCommon term

In architecture, footprint means: The area of ground that a building covers, measured by the outline of its outer walls at ground level.

In Turkish: taban alanı, yapı oturumu, oturum alanı

How it is used

Used in planning, site layouts and feasibility studies. Architects reduce, enlarge or keep the footprint compact, and planning rules often limit it as a percentage of the plot. The word is also used for environmental impact, as in 'carbon footprint'.

Example sentences

  1. We kept the footprint small and went up five storeys to save the old trees.

  2. The building footprint covers about 40 percent of the plot.

Common collocations

  • building footprint
  • compact footprint
  • reduce the footprint
  • carbon footprint
  • floor area ratioThe 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.
  • 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.
  • site planA drawing that shows the whole plot from above: the building's position, boundaries, access roads, landscaping, levels and its relationship to neighbouring buildings.
  • massingThe overall three-dimensional shape and arrangement of a building's main volumes, without details such as windows or materials.
  • 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.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Urban Planning and Design

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