Topaz contained a living complex known as the "city", about , as well as extensive agricultural lands. Within the city, forty-two blocks were for internees, thirty-four of which were residential. Each residential block housed 200–300 people, housed in barracks that held five people within a single room. Families were generally housed together, while single adults would be housed with four other unrelated individuals. Residential blocks also contained a recreation hall, a mess hall, an office for the block manager, and a combined laundry/toilet/bathing facility. Each block contained only four bathtubs for all the women and four showers for all the men living there. These packed conditions often resulted in little privacy for residents.