The observation lounge or conference lounge is a special designation referring to the briefing room on Galaxy and Sovereign class starships. The room is used as a meeting place for the ship's senior staff as well as special events and gatherings. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint," "Chain of Command, Part I," Star Trek: Nemesis)
On both the Galaxy and Sovereign classes, the room is elongated and spans the entire area aft of the bridge on Deck 1. There are a series of seven viewports, composed of transparent aluminum (TNG: "In Theory") spanning from close to the floor to up along the angled ceiling, which face the rear of the ship.
- The windows from Star Trek: The Next Generation were reused for the conference lounge seen in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Nemesis, as well as the potential Ten Forward seen in Star Trek: Insurrection.
Galaxy class
Galaxy class observation lounge.
The observation lounge on the Galaxy class is connected to the bridge through a short ramped corridor, which originates at the upper starboard alcove of the bridge and leads to a door on the starboard side of the conference lounge. Another door, on the port side of the room, leads to another corridor. (TNG: "Datalore") The shape of the conference table matches the curvature of the exterior hull, and has seating and data pads for ten individuals. The captain usually sat at the head of the table, at either side. In 2365, two display screens were added and located at either side of the room, behind the table and adjacent to the doors. The observation lounge was decorated by plants, and had two replicator terminals.
USS Enterprise-D
The wall opposite the windows on the USS Enterprise-D featured relief sculptures of several vessels named Enterprise for a number of years (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"), but these were removed in 2368. Also at this time, ribbed light vents were added below the windows. (TNG: "Redemption, Part II," "Darmok") In 2369, the display screens were permanently illuminated, with the port display showing information about the Enterprise systems and the starboard display giving status reports of various Starfleet vessels. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I")
- Curiously, no one thought to switch off the displays containing this vital information while the Cardassian officers were kept in the room during that episode. Also, the modifications made to the observation lounge were retained for the past scenes of TNG: "All Good Things...," although the sculptures of the ships were returned to the back wall.
The conference lounge served a multitude of purposes; in addition to being a meeting place, it could also host informal parties (TNG: "The Game") and held events for "Captain Picard Day." (TNG: "The Pegasus")
In late 2367, the observation lounge was decompressed after the transparent aluminum of a window was temporarily phased out of normal space by pockets of subspace instability in a dark matter nebula. (TNG: "In Theory")
In 2370, effects due to the D'Arsay archive transformed the observation lounge into a swamp. (TNG: "Masks")
- During the first season of TNG, the conference lounge was a redress of the sickbay set; during sickbay scenes, the outlines of the windows can be distinguished over the biobeds. By the second season, there was more space available and a new, separate set was built. The conference lounge set was subsequently redressed to serve as an art studio in TNG: "A Matter of Perspective," the captain's dining room in TNG: "Sins of the Father" and "Violations," Beverly Crusher's rehearsal room in TNG: "A Fistful of Datas," and the Enterprise-A mess hall in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The set was rebuilt for a brief scene during ENT: "These Are the Voyages...," although there were several minor changes from the original design.
Sovereign class
Sovereign class observation lounge.
The layout of the Sovereign class observation lounge was similar to that of the Galaxy class; the conference table was curved in a similar manner, and there was also the same number of seats. However, the room connected directly to the bridge via two doors on either side of the master systems display. Steps inside the lounge led down to the table level. The room also lacked viewscreens.
USS Enterprise-E
In 2373, the USS Enterprise-E conference lounge had a large display case of actual models of all six Federation starships named Enterprise, which was damaged when Captain Jean-Luc Picard smashed the case with a phaser rifle. (Star Trek: First Contact) By 2379, the case was split to either side of a new, large computer terminal. (Star Trek: Nemesis)