Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of Strange New Worlds' Enterprise You Need To Know

While the new Enterprise bridge represented an advancement in construction techniques for Star Trek: Discovery's art department, the set itself was unfinished when cameras rolled on "Such Sweet Sorrow, Parts 1 and 2". The main viewscreen seen throughout those two episodes and in the Short Trek "Q&A" was actually a CGI creation added by the VFX crew in post-production.

Like the USS Discovery's viewer, the new Enterprise's bridge viewscreen was intended to be a smart glass window looking out onto the hull of the ship and into space. But because the Enterprise's viewscreen was just a screen in TOS and definitely NOT a window, the designers hoped to avoid disrupting the traditionally teardrop-shaped bridge dome by adding a window.

Concept designer Scott Schneider found a workaround:

I told John [Eaves] early on that I really didn't want to mess with this shape up here, but they liked having windows on the front of the bridge, so I came up with the idea that [the front of the bridge dome] is transparent aluminum. During battle mode it would go opaque and during exploration mode it would go transparent and then you could see the window behind it.

This feature has yet to make it on screen, but basically, the Enterprise bridge window does not look out into space, but rather into a two-deck high observation area, which itself is also glassed in.