I wouldn't have minded a more "clunky" starship, something that looks less refined. Mix together the International Space Station and a modern day submarine.
Honestly, I would have been absolutely fine if they had used the Conestoga design from Terra Nova as the NX-01.
To me that is a sensible design for that era. That, or perhaps something along the lines of a Daedalus class.
Have the corridors three feet wide. Heavy doors that look like they could hold against a vaccum. Stairs and ladders, not elevators. Mysterious pipes and wire conduits simply covering the walls. Storage containers everywhere.
All good ideas.
I'd also have binned the "polarised hull" concept. It makes very little sense to me, and as used in the show it's just another word for "shields" - they treated it exactly the same, down to "hull plating at twenty percent!" Have the ship armoured if you want to, but just treat it like armour.
Same complaint with "phase" weapons and "photonic" torpedoes. You're really not using less advanced technology if you have systems that do the exact same thing in the exact same way, only with slightly different names for them.
So give the NX-01 nuclear missiles - which fits canon perfectly as we know those were the main weapons in the Romulan war. And perhaps laser cannon.
And no "phase pistols" either. Give the crew hand lasers, or even mini rail-gun type slugthrowers.
No transporters, period. Honestly I'd have put the invention of those things about 20 years before TOS at the earliest. Concurrent with that, I'd have had at least half a dozen shuttles on the ship.
I do like the look of the NX-01 interiors, though as you say, I'd prefer things to have been more cramped. Like the uniforms too.
