Floor Area And Lot Area

While often used in combination to determine other areas or ratios such as floor area ratio far for example the two have distinct differences and are defined differently by code.
Floor area and lot area. Both can affect the overall bulk characteristics within a zoning district. Floor area and lot area are two terms commonly used in zoning analysis. In real estate lot area is the size of a plot of land usually rendered in square feet or meters. The floor area ratio is the relationship between the total amount of usable floor area that a building has or has been permitted to have and the total area of the lot on which the building stands.
This is contrasted with floor area which is the size of the footprints of any buildings on the lot. Far is expressed as a decimal number and is derived by dividing the total area of the building by the total. Floor area ratio is the percentage of building floor space to lot area.