An imar durumu document is dense with abbreviations that directly set what can legally be built on a parcel. Misreading one ratio can mean a design that has to be redrawn after the permit stage, not before it.
The three ratios that set the building envelope
TAKS, taban alani katsayisi, is the ground coverage ratio, the maximum percentage of the parcel area that the building's footprint can occupy. KAKS, kat alani katsayisi, is the total floor area ratio, the maximum total floor area across all storeys relative to the parcel area, which is what actually determines how many floors a given footprint can support. E is sometimes used interchangeably with KAKS in older documents and refers to the same total floor area ratio.
A parcel with a low TAKS but a generous KAKS favours a taller, smaller footprint building, while the reverse favours a wider, lower one, and reading both together, not just one, is what actually defines the buildable envelope.
Where this affects the design before it starts
These two ratios, read together with the parcel's actual dimensions and any setback requirements, define the maximum buildable volume before a single line is drawn, and a concept design that ignores them risks needing a full redesign once the imar durumu is formally checked at permit stage.
Verifying both ratios directly from the current imar durumu document, not from an assumption based on a neighbouring parcel or an older zoning plan, is the first technical step on any new project, before massing or layout decisions begin.
A practical reading habit
Requesting a fresh imar durumu directly from the relevant municipality at project start, rather than relying on a document from a previous transaction, matters because zoning parameters can change, and a design based on an outdated ratio is a design based on incorrect information from day one.