Blending Density

Vinayak Bharne proposes that density is often achieved using blunt enforcement of crude tools like "floor-space index", when density can be much more subtly accomplished than just shooting up a tower.

1 minute read

April 10, 2011, 11:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Bharne advocates that FSI be replaced be a more refined massing strategy, which he calls "blending density":

"It replaces the homogeneity of FSI-based development with a calculated massing diversity that responds to and evolves from the desired character of its physical context. For instance, the FSI target of a single tower floating within a lot can also be achieved through a combination of a tower and mid-rises within the same lot appropriately massed to respond to their surrounding streets. Likewise, an FSI of a single mid-rise can be recalibrated as a combination of mid-rise and low-rise buildings making the development compatible with adjacent single-family houses. Thus, a final FSI target need not be the result of a single literal extrusion, but the average of various FSI components within a site, each carefully conceived in response to context."

Sunday, April 10, 2011 in The Urban Vision

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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