DESIGNING VOYAGER'S CREW QUARTERS

Richard James, the designer of Voyager's set interiors retained the design concept used for sets in previous Star Trek shows: typical tv production sets have only three sides; rarely will they have a fourth wall to make it into an enclosed room and the camera shoots from where the missing wall would normally be. But in Star Trek, most standing sets are six-sided sets: four walls, a fully detailed floor, and a fully detailed ceiling. The extra construction and logistics work means that the set gives the tv viewer a far stronger sense of the room being real - no matter what angle the camera shoots from, even through a window, there is always a sense of completeness. In addition, Richard James designed rooms, corridors entrances, turbolifts and other spaces leading directly into or out of a primary set. This would provide maximum flexibility for camera shots, and adds to the viewer's sense not only of the size of the ship but also of direction - we can "follow" a character as she or he moves from, say, a corridor directly into crew quarters.

Voyager's design blueprints placed the crew quarters around decks 4 to 8, in the upper saucer section. As on [Star Trek: The Next Generation], the art department adopted a modular design which could be adapted as needed for each member of the crew/ship's guest on an episode-by-episode basis.

Richard James: "The basic space was permanent, but the interior walls had beams across the top and we had channels in there that the walls could go in and out of. Each segment we called a 'bay'. Because the design was modular, you could give it two bays, three bays, or one bay. How big it was would depend on the importance of the character. Of course Janeway had, I think, four bays. The beams made niches in the walls and a lot of the furniture could play into those niches and come and go.
Each character had their own furnishing. There were some elements that were the same, but we would give everyone something different so the rooms had a personality. For example, Janeway had collected antiques and scientific things."

There was another crew quarters set on Stage 9 which did not have windows, implying it was deeper inside the ship. I surmise from watching the show that the latter style of quarters were for junior grades e.g. Ensign Vorik (who not only has no window but he shares with a room-mate - there is a bunk, and the impression of his room is small and cramped; his room is seen in [#58 Blood Fever], and Ensign Tabor's quarters; and in [#140 Good Shepherd] crewman Billy Telfer has to take care not to wake his room-mate when he talks with his friend Tal Celes during the night :

[#58 Blood Fever]

[#150 Repression]. The crewmember is Jor, Tabor's friend.

[#140 Good Shepherd]

Below: concept sketch: the main crew quarters were made up of a long outer wall and ceiling that could be separated by removeable walls.

Source ST:M

Below: concept sketch.

Source ST:M

Below: Floor plan for the standing sets on Stage 8 - note the section for crew quarters. They are actually on the same corridor as the messhall set. The main entrance to the Stage is through a door in the lower righthand corner. Stage 9, which holds other standing sets e.g. the bridge and sickbay, adjoins the wall on the right.

Source: Poe

layout diagram of Janeway's private quarters
Source TOSTFF

Janeway's private quarters [#105 Latent Image]

Seven's sparsely furnished (holographic) quarters [#164 Human Error]