Zones allow you to group your spaces together for use in area calculation schemas and presentations (showing spaces color-coded by department, for example). Additionally, engineers who are using AutoCAD MEP 2026 toolset can use zones to perform complex analysis calculations and reporting.
Zone Styles
Beyond being as descriptive as possible there are no naming conventions for Zone Styles.
Best Practices for Zone Styles:
- If you are using Zone Templates to automate the organization of your zones, then you must store the zone styles in the same drawing as the zone template styles.
- You may want to use a style-level display override for your zone styles for presentation displays to control hatching and color. Note: In addition to using style display overrides to control the display of zones, you might also consider using a Display Theme Style configured to display Spaces based on a property value.
Calculation Modifier Styles
Calculation Modifier Style Naming Conventions:
<Calculation description> <Purpose>
Example Calculation Modifier Style Names:
| Calculation Modifier Style Description | Example Name |
|---|---|
| Modifier to add ten percent to a calculated area to account for a commons factor add on in a commercial office building. | 10 Percent Commons Factor |
Zone Template Styles
Zone Templates allow you to automate the organization of your zones into a tree structure. Aside from being as descriptive as reasonably possible there are no naming conventions.
Best Practices for Zone Template Styles:
- When it is appropriate to do so, don’t forget to attach a calculation modifier style to the styles that you include in your zone template. This can further automate the process of zone organization.
- Zone template styles must be stored in the same drawing as the zone styles that they include. They also must be stored in the same drawing as any calculation modifiers that they use.