A weird thing about ship design

[Graham Kennedy]

So this is something I notice now and again. Some Trek ships seem to have decks that aren't flat.

The one that always jumped out was the Ambassador :



Trace the lines of the windows on the front of the engineering hull. They curve downwards with the lines on the hull.

Then here's the Intrepid.



Look at the back of the saucer - the decks curve noticeably up.

So is this just an artifact of those particular models, and not a reflection of the actual models? Or are we to believe that Starfleet engineers make ships with sloping decks? What would be the point of that?

[Bryan Moore]

IIRC (Can't really research it at work right now) - There were various blueprints that showed windows at different heights throughout the rooms. However, that doesn't really full explain it now that I think about it...

[Captain Seafort]

So is this just an artifact of those particular models, and not a reflection of the actual models? Or are we to believe that Starfleet engineers make ships with sloping decks? What would be the point of that?

Possibly to fit equipment into the space between decks. Artificial gravity would allow them to give the impression of a continual flat deck, even if it isn't.

[Teaos]

On a related note i thought this was a good chart

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/nqcaV

[Mikey]

Yes, great, but WTF does that have to do with deck layouts?

[McAvoy]

I agree. Wrong chart.