Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The La Sirena
6. Sets And The City
For the interior of the La Sirena, the production created a massive, full-scale representation of a large section of the ship at Santa Clarita Studios in Southern California. Designed by art director Rob Johnson, the three-story set features the La Sirena's cockpit, cargo transporter pad, and warp core situated on a mezzanine, with a mess hall and sickbay facility located on the deck directly below them.
The moody interiors of the La Sirena were inspired by a very un-Trek-like source: Michael Seymour's iconic sets for the Nostromo from Ridley Scott's Alien. The ship was also intended to reflect the inner life of her captain, Cris Rios.
Star Trek: Picard production designer Todd Cherniawsky explained the concept:
The idea being that he lived carrying around a lot of skeletons in his closet and almost different personalities... It was made obvious to me that his ship should be an empty warehouse of stored memories.
Despite the La Sirena's thematic emptiness, some sections of the ship were left literally open. While production blueprints of the ship clearly indicate an engine room and additional staterooms located directly behind the transporter pad and warp core, these were ultimately left as unfinished, plywood spaces and can briefly be seen during a set tour conducted by Cherniawsky for the Star Trek: Picard Season One blu-ray release.