When Taller Does Not Mean Denser: International Square in Downtown Washington, DC and The Waterview in Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia — A Site-Normalized Comparison of Reported Building Area, Nominal FAR, and Urban Form

When Taller Does Not Mean Denser compares International Square in downtown Washington, DC, with The Waterview in Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia, using each project’s reported building/project area normalized by its documented site area. International Square occupies a 105,818-square-foot site and contains 1,185,122 square feet of reported building area, yielding a nominal Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 11.20. The Waterview occupies a 94,204-square-foot site and contains 932,745 square feet of reported project area, yielding a nominal FAR of 9.90. Although The Waterview reaches approximately 300 feet—nearly twice International Square’s 152-foot architectural height—International Square’s nominal FAR is 13.1% higher. In this pair, visual height prominence therefore does not predict higher site-normalized floor-area density. The comparison is consistent with the way Washington, DC’s height regime can encourage fuller use of the permitted building envelope. The nominal FAR values are source-defined physical-intensity measures, not certified zoning-FAR determinations; the source systems do not use harmonized floor-area definitions.