PMA Housing Blueprint

• Create the room that will contain a rack or enclosure stack.
• Choose a clear code or position prefix before automatically creating positions.
• Count each physical row and the number of usable positions in that row.
• Measure a representative tub or enclosure when physical proportions should guide the preview.

Open Housing → Add Housing. Choose Individual Housing, Rack System, Enclosure Stack, Incubator, Room or Area, or Other Housing. PMA shows only the fields and design tools that apply to that choice.

1. Select Standard grid.
2. Set the row and column counts.
3. Choose across-row or down-column position sequencing.
4. Set a position prefix and review the live codes.
5. Enable automatic position creation when every displayed space should become a QR-ready record.

Select Multiplex rows when rows contain different numbers or shapes of positions. Set each row’s position count, aspect ratio, label, and alignment. For example, one blueprint may contain three positions on Row 1, one large position on Row 2, and six positions on Row 3.

Use Auto, 1:1, 3:2, 2:1, 5:2, 3:1, 4:1, or a custom width-to-height ratio. Ratios may be applied to the entire blueprint or changed for individual multiplex rows. The canvas ratio controls the overall preview frame.

Visual ratios do not replace the real length, width, and height stored on individual housing records.

Individual Housing does not require rows or columns. Record the format, dimensions, unit, capacity, and occupancy model. Formats include terrarium, vivarium, aquarium, tub, pen, aviary, and custom.

• Open the Housing record and choose Edit blueprint.
• Review existing positions, occupied positions, and visual remapping.
• Increase the blueprint capacity if PMA reports fewer proposed spaces than stored positions.
• Save only after the live preview represents the physical system.

Automatically created tubs or enclosures receive permanent internal IDs and position codes. Renaming a position or changing its visual row does not change its QR destination. A virtual empty position becomes a stored Housing record when it is created or first used through supported assignment workflows.

• Housing Blueprint supports standard grids and variable multiplex rows, not arbitrary freehand shapes.
• Building floorplans, outdoor terrain, doors, paths, and freeform boundaries belong to the later PMA Housing Canvas expansion.
• Equipment, environmental and maintenance capabilities are managed through their current PMA workflows rather than implied by the visual blueprint alone.
• PMA does not decide whether communal housing is safe; keepers remain responsible for compatibility and welfare decisions.