{"id":1223,"date":"2010-04-20T11:35:58","date_gmt":"2010-04-20T11:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=1223"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:54:33","slug":"far-is-your-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2010\/04\/far-is-your-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"FAR is Your Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

As mentioned in the first Rethink event, the blogger panel, FAR (never pronounced far, but each letter: f-a-r, standing for floor area ratio) is one of the more obscure bits of planner patois.<\/p>\n

FAR determines a site\u2019s allowed development as a ratio of building area over lot area. For example, an FAR of 1 would allow a one-story building that covers the entire lot or a two story building that covers half the lot or a three-story building that covers a third of the lot. Regardless of a site\u2019s size, it will have the same allotment of building density as its neighbors.<\/p>\n

In urban areas, FARs tend to be high, around 6 or 7 in downtown Washington and around 19 or 20 in midtown Manhattan. To planners and developers, FAR is the most fundamental dimensional standard of a zoning code. It determines a lot\u2019s development potential and hence its value. An FAR of 4 is worth twice as much as an FAR of 2.<\/p>\n

FAR is a rational tool, but can be coarse in its application. It allows an infinite variety of building designs, but can\u2019t address the details of setbacks, build-to lines, and human-scale like windows, doors, and materials. FAR controls bulk, but the character of a street comes from the fine grain.<\/p>\n

In a suburban landscape diffused by roads and sky, with a changing character and large lots, FAR is only one tool to shape building character. The effect of a six-story building versus an eight-story building will be hard to perceive, but what will be evident is the parking lot in front of it or the odd strip of lawn that surrounds it.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As mentioned in the first Rethink event, the blogger panel, FAR (never pronounced far, but each letter: f-a-r, standing for floor area ratio) is one of the more obscure bits of planner patois.<\/p>\n

FAR determines a site\u2019s allowed development as a ratio of building area over lot area. For example, an FAR of 1 would allow a one-story building that covers the entire lot or a two story building that covers half the lot or a three-story building that covers a third of the lot. Regardless of a site\u2019s size, it will have the same allotment of building density as its neighbors.<\/p>\n

In urban areas, FARs tend to be high, around 6 or 7 in downtown Washington and around … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[101,99,100,102],"class_list":["post-1223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-planning","tag-buildings","tag-far","tag-floor-area-ratio","tag-heights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11014,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions\/11014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}