I have a space 10 wide with a door at 7 foot and 12 foot on the other side.
I am torn (meaning I don’t know which is best.) between a U shape with 2 foot walk in the center.
Filling the entire space with access holes.
Leaving 1 foot around entire space to walk around.
What would you guys do?
Personally I’m not into filling a room with track. A shelf layout, maybe 2 feet wide, around the room, would provide for plenty of space but not take over the whole room. Start on one wall and work your way around as you finish each section. That way you’d have, effectively, a 10x12 foot layout and still have an open 6x8 (or more) space in the middle of the room, plus space underneath and above the layout for furniture, storage, etcetera.
I agree you need to have the extra space to work on the layout . If later on, you have friends over to run. You will really need the space to move around the layout.
The space is a section of basement maybe a quarter, so this is not the entire space–just what I am willing to give up.
You’ll never be sorry with the shelf layout. Keep the width (depth) down to 30" as an absolute maximum (unless you have arms like a gorilla and can reach more than that). A 24" width is even better. Your two doorways can be bridged with temporarily removable sections that are no more than 30 " long (typical doorway width). If you’re very young, duck unders are OK but they’ll get very tiresome as your age increases and your limberness decreases.
Chuck