Departments and Program Blocks help you organize and track the gross area of your design against your program targets. This article explains what they are, how they work together, and how to use them in both Program Mode and Design Mode.
What are Departments and Program Blocks?
Departments are a way to group and organize spaces in your project. They are no longer a special object type — instead, Department is a tag category you can assign to any space. This means departments are flexible labels that drive grouping in Program Mode, the Area Panel, and Present Mode, without enforcing a rigid hierarchy.
Program Blocks are gross area spaces — large, massing-level volumes that represent a department's footprint on a floor. They are a Space Type (like Rooms), and their area counts as Gross area by default (unless changed in the object properties panel). Program Blocks are typically used to:
Visualize how a department's gross area budget fits on a floor plate
Stack and arrange departments before detailed room-level design begins
Track achieved gross area against department targets
Key concept: Rooms represent net (usable) area. Program Blocks represent gross (built-up) area. Both can exist on the same floor and are tracked separately.
Creating Departments
Departments in Program Mode are defined by rows in the program spreadsheet. Any row set as a Department row groups the spaces and Program Blocks beneath it. In the design mode, Departments can be set as 'Tags'. (Learn more about it in the 'Working with Space Tags' article).
To define departments in Program Mode:
Open Program Mode from the left sidebar.
In the program spreadsheet, type your department names in the Department column, or use AI > Interpret to generate them from imported data.
Department rows automatically nest all Rooms and Program Blocks assigned to them below.
Setting Gross Area Targets for Departments
Each department has a Gross Area Target that you can set in two ways:
Manual target: Enter values in columns F (units) and G (area per unit). Gross Target = F × G. The Efficiency Target is preserved and highlighted to show it's a manual override.
Auto-calculated target: Leave F and G empty (or set to zero). The system calculates: Gross Target = Net Area Target × Efficiency Target (default efficiency = 1.4).
Efficiency values are shown directly in the department header row. Hovering over an overridden efficiency value shows an explanation of the calculation.
Creating Program Blocks
You can create Program Blocks in two ways:
Option 1: Draw on Canvas (Design Mode)
Draw a 'Space' on the canvas using any of the draw tools.
Select the object and from the Properties Panel (OPP) on the right change the Space Type to Program Block.
The Program Block's area will now count as 'Gross' area and will appear under the appropriate department in Program Mode.
(Optional) You can edit the area by changing selecting 'Net' area or unchecking boxes to 'Exclude' the area of the Program Block from area calculations. This can also be changed in the Program Mode from the 'Area Type' column.
To assign/re-assign it to a department, add a Department tag from the OPP using the 'Tags' section. Select the relevant department from the dropdown.
Pro tip:
1. Use Filter Selection to select all Program Blocks in your project at once. You can also adjust Program Block color transparency from Project Settings.
2. View all Program Block areas in area dashboard by sorting the Gross Area by Labels/Departments and sort by stories/tags
Option 2: Create via Interpret in Program Mode
In Program Mode, select cells in the custom spreadsheet containing gross area data (imported, typed, or AI-generated).
Choose Create Objects or Set Targets.
Select Gross Area (Program Blocks) as the object type.
Review the interpreted table showing department, label, area, and count.
Edit any values as needed, then confirm. Program Blocks are created on the canvas (for create objects) and listed in Program Mode under their department rows.
Note: Learn more about Interpret in this article. Creating Program Blocks via Interpret does not automatically set department-level gross area targets. Set targets separately using the department row columns or the Set Targets flow in Interpret.