Report on FAR Form Optimization Workshop

Report – FAR Form Optimization Workshop
School of Architecture, REVA University

Faculty coordinator:  Assoc. Prof. Shubhi Sonal, Asst.Prof. Sriviji Nachimuthu and Ar. Danakoti
Course: AD IV Housing Studio
Resource Person: Ar. Shubhi Sonal
Date: 03rd, 04th and 08th of September, 2020
Mode: MS Teams
Attended by:
1. Students of School of Architecture- 39
2. Faculty members of the School of Architecture:  3

Learning Architectural Design is known to be a process oriented endeavor.  As per the 5th semester Architectural design curriculum students are introduced to various modalities of relationships between the built form and building regulations. These processes are always supported/ enriched through workshops, guest lecture, skill development programmes, site visits, case study tours etc., at REVA University.  
School of Architecture, REVA University organized a workshop on FAR-Form optimization for the students of 5th Semester (section-A), as part of their curriculum. FAR- Form optimization is an important exercise in large scale projects in an urban setting. 

The three day workshop began with a brief lecture presentation on the importance of FAR- Form optimization by Ar. Shubhi S. She elaborated on purpose of FAR optimization like limiting urban density and its impact on the value of the land and importance of FAR in determining land value. She also explained ways of achieving maximum buildup area for the given FAR and ground coverage. Later students were split up into groups and were given exercises to arriving at optimal form for given combinations of FAR and ground coverage. The students tried various options of massing and form optimization through the 3 day workshop. They presented their findings as a compilation of their model photographs and 3-D visualizations. Students enjoyed working on the hands-on exercise as it was a break from the screen oriented online learning mode. Detailed discussions were carried out during the presentations to help students comprehend the impact of building regulations and the architectural techniques in application of the same into built environment design.

This workshop was informative and helped the students gain a fresh perspective on massing and form.  We thank the team and management at REVA University for their support and encouragement .