Departments and Program Blocks let you plan and track a project's gross area against its program before you get into room-level design. A department is a tag you give to spaces. A Program Block is a space type for massing-level, gross-area volumes. Together they drive grouping and totals in Program Mode, the Areas tab and Present Mode.
How departments and Program Blocks work
Departments are tags. Every project has a Department tag category by default. You can give any space, Room or Program Block one Department tag, and you can rename, add or remove departments like any other tag. A department is a grouping label, not a separate object.
Program Blocks are a Space Type. A Program Block is a space whose Space Type is Program Block. It represents a department's gross (built-up) footprint on a floor, and its Area Type defaults to Gross.
Rooms hold net area. Rooms represent net (usable) area. Rooms and Program Blocks can sit on the same floor, and Snaptrude tracks their areas separately.
Use Program Blocks to test whether each department's gross area fits on a floor plate, to stack and arrange departments in early massing, and to compare achieved gross area with department targets.
Note: Older projects used dedicated department objects and Smart Labels, where a space counted as a department when its label matched the department name. Both have been removed. When you open an older project, its department objects are converted automatically to Program Blocks with matching Department tags. Labels are plain names and don't change how a space behaves.
Set up departments in Program Mode
Click the Program tab at the top of the screen. Program Mode opens in a separate browser tab.
On the P1 - Program sheet, enter your department names in the Department Name column (you can set a Department Color alongside), or generate them from an imported brief with Interpret (see "Create Program Blocks with Interpret" below).
Program Mode nests each department's Program Blocks under the department row. Net or unclassified objects are listed as spaces.
To change a space's department, double-click its Department tag cell and choose a department from the dropdown, or type a new name to create one. You can also edit or delete tag values from that dropdown.
You can also assign a department in Design Mode: select the space, open the Properties tab in the right panel and choose a Department tag in the Tags section. For more on tag categories, see Working with Space Tags.
Set a department's gross area target
Each department row has a Gross Area Target, which Snaptrude works out in one of two ways:
Manual target: Enter a count and an area per unit in the department row's target columns (F and G). Gross Area Target = F × G. The efficiency value stays visible and is highlighted to show that you have overridden it.
Calculated target: Leave F and G empty or at zero. Gross Area Target = Net Area Target × Efficiency. Efficiency defaults to 1.4, so a department with 1,000 sq ft of net target gets a 1,400 sq ft gross target.
The department row shows the net and gross totals for the department, plus Efficiency (Achieved). Compare it with the Efficiency target to see whether a department is running too tight or too generous. Hover over an overridden efficiency value to see how it was calculated.
Note: Creating Program Blocks does not set a department's gross target. Set targets in the department row or with the Set Targets option in Interpret.
Draw a Program Block on the canvas
In Design Mode, draw a space with any of the drawing tools.
Select the space.
In the Properties tab of the right panel, change Space Type to Program Block. Its area counts as Gross, and it appears under its department in Program Mode.
In the Tags section of the Properties panel, choose a Department tag.
(Optional) To count the block differently, change its Area Type to Net or Excluded. You can change Area Type in the Properties panel or in the Area Type column in Program Mode.
Create Program Blocks with Interpret
Interpret reads program data from a spreadsheet in Program Mode (imported, typed or AI-generated) and can create Program Blocks from it.
In Program Mode, select the cells that hold your department and gross area data. When the selection is valid, the Interpret actions appear.
Choose Create Objects.
Choose Gross area as the object type. This creates Program Blocks.
Check the values in the Interpret Table: department, label, area, count, and any extracted length, width, ratio, height and story. You can edit area, length, width and ratio there. Linked values recalculate, and changed cells are highlighted.
Confirm. Program Blocks are placed on the canvas and listed under their department rows in Program Mode.
To set targets without creating any geometry, choose Set Targets instead of Create Objects.
Tip: You can also use the agent panel on the left of Program Mode. In its dropdown, choose Interpret, or choose Generate > Gross Area Objects to generate Program Blocks from a prompt. Edit Dimensions > Gross Area Objects resizes existing Program Blocks, and Assign Stories > Gross Area Objects places them on stories.
Note: Creating net-area objects (Rooms) does not create Program Blocks automatically. Create gross and net objects separately.
Control Program Block display
Opacity: Opacity is a property of each Space Type, so one setting controls how see-through every Program Block is. Lower it to trace over underlays or to see rooms inside a block in 3D.
Colour by department: Set the colour mode (Texture) to the Department tag category to colour spaces and Program Blocks by department in Design Mode and Present Mode. Any other tag category can drive the colour mode as well.
Select all Program Blocks: In the toolbar, open the Select dropdown, choose Filter selection and use By Object to select every Program Block, or By Tag to select everything in one department.
Tips
To check Program Block areas, open the Areas tab in the right panel, switch the area dropdown to Gross Area, and sort or filter by Department tag, story or label.
To fit departments into a building envelope, select the Program Blocks and the envelope, then use Arrange or Pack from the Properties tab. Arrange isn't available on the Free plan.
Department tags carry through Sketch to BIM to the resulting Flooring, and they export to Revit as Room parameters (default tag values are not exported).
Related articles
Working with Space Tags
Space Types and Area Types
Interpret: Generate a Program from Custom Sheets
Program Mode Overview
Area Panel
Arrange and Pack in an Envelope