Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Next Generation Main Bridge

10. Hilton In Space

To convey Star Trek: The Next Generation's place in the future of the future, nearly a century after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, creator Gene Roddenberry requested the bridge of the Enterprise-D be as streamlined and comfortable as possible. The show's season one writer's bible (developed before the sets were designed or constructed) described the bridge as a control AND conference center:

The features of ship control, briefing room, information retrieval area and officers wardroom. In other words, much the same kinds of things happen here as in the old bridge, but with less emphassis on the mechanics of steering the starship.

With that directive, early sketches of the main bridge were developed by starship designer Andrew Probert and featured couches, a conference table and chairs, even a balcony looking out on a massive viewscreen. According to Probert in an interview with Forgotten Trek:

The couches were my idea, to provide more of a face-to-face conference environment for the main characters. The table idea (generated by the producers) I hated, because it wouldn’t be logical to furnish a table where everyone would gather to discuss their situations.

Ultimately, the hotel lobby-esque designs were abandoned in favor of a more straightforward reinterpretation of TOS' bridge configuration, though retaining the plush elements (comfy, laid back seats, soft uppoulstery on the walls, and all that carpeting) to indicate that the Enterprise-D was as much a living city in space as it was an exploratory, quasi-military vessel.