Fewer decks too, with the whole Voyager/Sovereign blended hulls thing going. I like.
As for the bridge, while purists would like to keep it "on top", I don't see a reason for Starfleet not to play with the formula every now and then based on advances in technology. They've toyed with the idea of bridge modules "sunken" into the hull of deck one (Defiant and arguably Excelsior) or partially protected by other superstructure elements (Akira), and these have hardly become the norm for other starship designs. It's true that some visitors to the Aventine may be a bit confised when they walk around a corner into a door marked "bridge" instead of taking the usual turbolift route, but hardly a showstopper.
Now, because I'm a bridge nerd, I'm wondering is we know anything about the bridge other than its location? Stations, configuration, etc.? Anything written in the books? Or if KRADo can shed some light on his thoughts for the most important room? I'd reason the bridge to be somewhere on deck three or four, in a location roughly analogous to where it would be on the saucer if the darker grey "hump" wasn't there - just behind the two litle rectangles. But what's IN the bridge, we must know!
EDIT - The frontal view suggests a row of windows that could be a really big, really comfortable conference lounge. Counting rows of windows, that should be on deck five, and would be really cool if folks on the bridge would go to a forward-looking conference room instead of the more traditional aft-facing editions. Voyager nonwithstanding. :P
Mark
