Floor Area Ratio
What Is Floor Area Ratio?
The floor area ratio is the relationship between the total amount of usable floor area that a building has, or has been permitted to have, and the total area of the part on which the building stands. A higher ratio probably would show a thick or urban construction. Neighborhood legislatures utilize the floor area ratio for zoning codes.
You might decide the ratio by isolating the total or gross floor area of the building by the gross area of the part.
What Does the Floor Area Ratio Tell You?
The floor area ratio accounts for the whole floor area of a building, not just the building's footprint. Excluded from the square footage calculation are vacant areas like cellars, parking carports, steps, and elevator shafts.
Buildings with various numbers of stories might have a similar floor-area-ratio value. Each city has a limited capacity or limited space that can be used safely. Any utilization past this point puts undue stress on a city. This is at times known as the safe load factor.
The floor area ratio is variable in light of the fact that population dynamics, growth examples, and construction activities differ and on the grounds that the idea of the land or space where a building is put changes. Industrial, residential, commercial, agricultural, and nonagricultural spaces have varying safe load factors, so they regularly have contrasting floor area ratios. Eventually, nearby states lay out regulations and limitations that decide the floor area ratio.
The floor area ratio is a key deciding factor for development in any country. A low floor area ratio is generally a hindrance to construction. Numerous industries, to a great extent the real estate industry, look for hikes in the floor area ratio to open up space and land resources to engineers. An increased floor area ratio allows a designer to complete additional building projects, which definitely prompts greater sales, diminished expenditures per project, and greater supply to fulfill need.
Illustration of How to Use the Floor Area Ratio
- The floor area ratio of a 1,000-square-foot building with one story arranged on a 4,000-square-foot part would be 0.25x. A two-story building on a similar parcel, where each floor was 500 square feet, would have a similar floor-area-ratio value.
- Considered another way, a ton has a floor area ratio of 2.0x and the square footage is 1,000. In this scenario, an engineer could develop a building that covers as much as 2,000 square feet. This could incorporate a 1,000 square foot building with two stories.
- As a real-life model, consider an apartment complex available to be purchased in Charlotte, North Carolina. The asking price for the high rise is $3 million and ranges 17,350 square feet. The whole parcel is 1.81 acres or 78,843 square feet. The floor area ratio is 0.22x, or 17,350 separated by 78,843.
The Difference Between the Floor Area Ratio and Lot Coverage
However the floor area ratio works out the size of the building relative to the part, the parcel coverage considers the size of all buildings and structures. The parcel coverage ratio incorporates structures like carports, pools, and sheds — including nonconforming buildings.
Limitations of Using the Floor Area Ratio
The impact that the floor area ratio has on land value cuts the two different ways. In certain occurrences, an increased floor area ratio might make a property more important if, for instance, an apartment building can be constructed that allows for additional open rentals or more tenants.
In any case, a designer who can build a bigger apartment building on one land parcel might diminish the value of a connecting property with a high sale value reinforced by a view that is presently impeded.
Highlights
- The floor area ratio is the relationship of the total usable floor area of a building relative to the total area of the parcel on which the building stands.
- floor area ratios differ in light of structure type, like industrial, residential, commercial, or agricultural.
- A higher ratio normally shows a thick or highly urbanized area.
