Answer the questions below and the tool builds a draft Program of Requirements — a room-by-room schedule with net and gross square footage and SF-per-student — the first thing your architect needs. This is a starting point for conversation, not a final design.
These set an enrollment-driven size target (Target gross SF/student × enrollment). The detailed space program you build in Step 3 is measured against it.
The four things an architect can't infer from a spreadsheet. Keep answers short — bullet phrases are fine. These travel with the program as design intent.
List who needs a workspace and whether they get a private office, share a room, or sit at an open workstation. Click Build offices and the tool writes these into the Administration category below. For shared rooms, "SF" is the whole room; for private/workstation it's per person.
For each space: is it a Must, a Nice-to-have, or Exclude for now? How many, who's in it at once, and how big? Instruction rows pre-fill from your enrollment — adjust anything. "Exclude" and outdoor rows don't count toward building SF.
| Space | Need | Units | Stations / unit | SF / unit | Total SF | Adjacency / notes |
|---|
How the math works. Total SF = units × SF/unit, summed only for Must and Nice rows that aren't outdoor. Gross SF = net × grossing factor. SF/student divides by enrollment. The Step 1 target is enrollment × Target gross SF/student (target net = target gross ÷ grossing factor); the space program's gross is then compared against that target.
Typical charter K–8 programs land around 55–80 gross SF/student for a lean building; well below that is tight, well above is generous (or a budget problem).
Not a final design. This is a draft Program of Requirements to start the architect conversation — they will refine every number. · Leading the Build™ · 3BRE LLC