About Floor Space Index

 

Living spaces make our cities alive and breathing, and they have a big part to play in our human experience. The FSI is the ratio of built-up space vs plot of land. Or the total area covered by all the floors of the building, divided by the total area of the property upon which it’s built upon. This is an effective way to build upon and actually know the distinctions between the actual plot size and the intricacies of the design behind the same.

The significance of this paradigm is for the buyer and the developer to actualize and bring to fruition how much construction needs to be done on a particular piece of land. The amenities, type of the building, and the zone in which the premises is located, the entirety of the plot is considered otherwise, i.e.  taking in the aspects such as the size, locality and end-use of the property.

The system mentioned above differs from place to place and from one municipal corporation to another, and from municipal council to another and so on.

**On the other hand, the gross floor area (GFA) is the total of all the floors in the building minus the parking, balcony, driveway, and walkway, among other things.

 

Floor Space Index Formula

 

As being mentioned earlier, floor space index is the area covered by all the floors of the building divided by the total area of the plot. For instance, if the FSI is 1.0 in its cumulative form, only 1,000 sq. ft. of construction can be done on the property amounting to 1,000 sq. ft.

*It is also essential to remember that construction companies or builders can only build-up to the FSI imposed by the regulatory authority; the government.

 

Importance of FSI

 

Floor Space Index holds a significant space in the socio-architectural designs of urban planning, gives a comprehensive idea on how a city can be better managed through the effective ways of calculated accountability of imbibing water management, sewage treatment and other forms; primarily to control the population density of an area.

As we know, every region that defines the spirit of this country is different and therefore, it becomes imperative to count in the floor space index to maximize the potentiality of how living residential/ commercial spaces can be effectively used to make our lives better in general. The management of spaces becomes even more important with the passage of time; an unprecedented developmental rate and an ever-more growing population would require a better system to optimize the residential spaces to accommodate for the growing population, industrial upsurge and socio-political circumstances.

Furthermore, FSI also plays an important role in deciding the pricing of the building; for instance, the residential spaces with a relatively lower floor space index encapsulate a better market value because of their lower population density and so on. Godrej Properties with their impeccable, top-of-the-line property spaces provide with the best FSI value, making spectacular spaces to reside and invest in.

With the notable variations that the FSI can bring about, ranging from commercial/ residential and premium spaces, the final price of the property is still governed by multiple factors and not just FSI alone, as being mentioned earlier.

Looking into a different perspective, the developer will prefer a higher FSI ratio because a higher floor space index would imply more apartments can be developed and sold. Taking into consideration the unprecedented demand for the real estate in the ecosystem of India, increasing the floor space index would be beneficial if other factors such as sustainability and city management were looked after and thoroughly considered.

Summary

 

The article mentioned above talks about the significance of floor plan index (FSI) and its implications in terms of urban planning; a few takeaways from this are mentioned below:

• The Floor Space Index is the total area of the constructed plot divided by the property’s total size.
• The higher the FSI, the lower the rates of the residential/commercial and vice-versa.
• FSI is an imperative factor while evaluating the value of the property.
• Locality, Type of Property, Categorical Zone etc., are other factors that are taken into consideration while deciphering the value of any given property along with the FSI.