Low-cost housing design: How FAR is feasible?

Tifa Asrianti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 09/15/2008 10:14 AM  |  City

In drafting guidelines for occupancy levels of low-cost apartments, an expert says the city administration needs to conduct a complete study first because a higher floor ratio could overcrowd the city.

Ahmad Djuhara, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Association of Indonesian Architects, said Sunday a transparent and thorough study would allow city dwellers to see how crowded these housing areas could become.

Any development plan automatically attracts people to come to live in an area, he said, so this research would be used to allow the administration to estimate ideal population density levels (before they go ahead with a project).

"It's alright to build apartments with a floor area ratio (FAR) of six, as long as the population density level is maintained at one person for every 2.5 square meters, or 4,000 persons per square kilometer," he said.

The city administration and related stakeholders -- including the Indonesian Developers Association (REI), the Public Housing Ministry and the Public Works Agency -- plan to issue technical guidelines within the next two weeks, to increase the FAR for low-cost apartments from four to six, following a request from developers for an amendment.

"We wanted an FAR of six because a feasibility study conducted by the Public Works Agency in 2007 showed that an FAR of six would allow us to sell units for Rp 144 million (US$15,151).

"If developers don't want to build with an FAR of six that's their decision, but don't limit us with an FAR of three or four," REI chairman Teguh Satria said.

The ratio and building coverage standards determine the number of floors that developers were allowed to be build on land, making buildings structurally and socio-economically viable.

To calculate the maximum number of floors allowed, developers must multiply the size of the block of land by the FAR and then divide by the building coverage factor.

For example, a one-hectare block with an FAR of six and building coverage of 30 percent (3,000 square meters) could have up to 20 floors.

Deputy Governor Prijanto said previously that the 2007 gubernatorial decree on low-cost apartments stipulates that changing the ratio was possible, as long as it fulfills environmental and technical guidelines.

"We'll discuss the requirements for the ratio change. The developers, for example, should provide public facilities that match residents' needs, such as parking lots and pre-schools," he said.

Each apartment would have different facilities because each had its own specific needs, he said.

Ahmad said low-cost apartment developers needed not only to consider the FAR, but also public facilities such as transportation.

"Low-cost apartments should be comfortable and integrated with other facilities so residents can reach amenities -- and be within walking distance of workplaces, schools and markets," he said.

Ahmad said apartments downtown should have a higher FAR than those on the periphery because this would curb the city's sprawl and allow inhabitants to live closer to their workplaces.

"I have yet to see proof that an FAR of six can be comfortable for a residential building. But it's a challenge for architects to design a compact and comfortable building," he said.

Ahmad said in designing low-cost apartments the heterogeneity of inhabitants also needed to be considered. In Singapore, he said, an apartment building must have an equal composition of Chinese, Indian and ethnic Malay residents.

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