Gaudí on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona, on a block with a 5,5 FAR

The FAR (floor-area ratio) divides the surface of the built floors in a lot by the lot area.It is not easy to know the density of a zone at first sight, as it depends as much on what is built as on what area you use to measure it. So, a tower can have a density measured over its lot which is lower than that of a more conventional block of lesser height. Even on a block, courtyards can have variable dimensions, so it is not easy to grasp that number from the outside. And this is without taking into account the film “La estrategia del caracol” (the  strategy of the snail), by Sergio Cabrera (1993) and his vision of the “shrinking densities” in Bogotá…

Density by block in central Bogotá and central Barcelona

Residential towers near Diagonal Mar in Barcelona, FAR 1,7 on cadastral parcel

Plaza de Bolivar, Bogotá. An area with a FAR around 3 m2/m2. Image by Richard Lozin in Panoramio