Control room

Halo's Control Room is a temple-like architecture structure where the Index is used to activate the Halo's weapon.

It is unknown if there are only two designs, which are replicated in the other Halos' Control Rooms, or if each Control Room has its individual designs, due to lack of information on the other Halos.

Control Room, Installation 04
In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Control Room for Installation 04 was found in the stages Assault on the Control Room and Two Betrayals.

The main console was found behind a set of doors with connecting corridors. It has been noted that when viewed from the top, the main console room resembles the Marathon logo. The large, dome shaped room features a massive hologram of Halo, and the Threshold system in its center. Suspended in the air is a large circular catwalk around the planet. There are no other control stations save for the main control console.

The Master Chief reached the main console and inserted Cortana, who sent him to the next level, 343 Guilty Spark to attempt to stop Captain Keyes from unleashing the Flood. He returned to the Control Room at the start of Two Betrayals to insert the Index as prompted by 343 Guilty Spark, but was stopped by Cortana. 343 Guilty Spark then sent Sentinels to stop the Chief. After the Chief destroyed the Sentinels, he took Cortana and left. The Control Room was presumably untouched from then on until Installation 04 was destroyed.

Control Room, Installation 05
In Halo 2, Installation 05's Control Room is on an island in a sea, entered for the first and last time in The Great Journey but seen in Uprising and The Great Journey.

It is there that Tartarus brought Miranda Keyes to the Control Room along with 343 Guilty Spark to attempt to activate Delta Halo.

He succeeded in starting it up, but was slain by the Arbiter and Sergeant Johnson. The Index was removed by Miranda before the weapon could fire. It consists of a three-leveled structure with a gravity lift in the middle. On all three levels there are crates containing Brute Plasma Rifles and Carbines.

This is where the Arbiter fights Tartarus. In order to reach the main area, one will have to jump from a platform onto the middle level. Four platforms orbit the Control Room. Two can be used to get to the middle level or to get to the other two platforms. One has Miranda Keyes on it, the other is just there for show. There is another stationary platform leading to a hall similar to the one you use to enter the Control Room. Tartarus summons multiple brutes from here. Using a glitch with a Banshee it is possible to get a Banshee into the control room. Doing so will make defeating Tartarus a whole lot easier.

Control Room, replacement Installation 04
The Control Room for the replacement Installation 04 is a nearly identical copy of the Control Room on Installation 04.

Rather than fight a longer portion of the level to reach the Control Room, you must only traverse a small section. The temple structure and edifice has the same basic triangular shape as Installation 04's Control Room, with a long support beam running from the ground to the top of the structure. There are minor aesthetic differences, including the walkways on each level being more narrow, as well as the tower at the top being replaced by a large flat landing. Not to forget, in the first Halo, a bridge was present before the Control Room. In Halo 3 there was no bridge present.

As you progress into the control room, the corridors and doorways are reminiscent of Installation 04, while offering minimal changes. The actual control room and control panel is scarcely different from the original. The large dome-shaped room still shows a holographic image of the halo ring, although Threshold is missing from this image (as the ring has not been moved to that point). When viewed from above, players can easily see the shape of the Marathon logo, as in the original Installation 04. It is here where the Master Chief fights 343 Guilty Spark, upon going rampant.

The differences in design from the original Installation 04 can be partially explained by Cortana, who mentions in a cutscene "Halo. It's so new... unfinished." This "newer" design could also be what Installation 04 originally looked like, before the Flood outbreak and the activation of the Halos by the Forerunner. Also, if you look carefully, you will see that everything is more pristine, clean, and unscathed, unlike the dull and gritty feel the Control Room on Installation 04 gave.