Which statement describes the Race Track Plan as applied to facility design?

• A. A clean central core surrounded by operating rooms
• B. A single long corridor with rooms along both sides
• C. Separate isolated modules with no central area
• D. An open area with no walls

Answer: (A)

The Race Track Plan is about arranging spaces around a continuous, looping corridor that surrounds a central hub of clean support areas. In a surgical facility, that central hub houses the clean activities—decontamination, sterilization, storage, and related control functions—while the operating rooms are placed along the surrounding corridor. Staff and supplies move along the loop, circulating between the clean hub and the ORs without crossing through congested areas, which supports efficient workflow and strong separation of clean and dirty work zones.

This description fits the idea of a clean central core surrounded by operating rooms, because it highlights the central, protected core that handles sterile processing and related functions, with the clinical spaces arranged around it for direct access from the corridor. Other configurations—like a straight corridor with rooms on both sides, isolated modular rooms with no central hub, or an open area with no walls—do not provide the same integrated circulation, containment, and flow control that the racetrack layout is designed to achieve.