you must admit that it still looks nice though as a level

It reused assets, it was all one color, and the lack of definitive shapes combined to make it seem nauseating. If they'd gone with their original plans for the level it'd have likely been better.

do you know if there is concept art off it?

If you're referring to concept art, there is none. Or at least nine that I've found. But here's a quote from an interview provided in Chronarch's link further down in this thread. [quote]Yes, the folks at Bungie knew they were shipping a bad mission with "Cortana." One of the reasons "Cortana" turned out badly is because there wasn’t a specific level designer for it, and one of the reasons for that was because "Cortana" was originally going to be the second half of “Floodgate.” Can’t remember exactly why, but because of time constraints and other things, what became "Cortana" got separated and made into its own level.[/quote]