I think one of the biggest problems I had with the DS2 is just the way it looks, to the degree that you have to think: is that really how they go about building stuff?

Don't you usually build a framework of a building and work your way up (or in this case, work your way out from the center)? I understand that ILM had to come up with something that was instantly recognizable as both "a Death Star" and "under construction", but would there be a way to make it ... i dunno.... maybe not so much as "more realistic (per my own points about STAR WARS being STAR WARS)" but more "under construction" looking (per the image directly above)?

Hell, just looking at that pic above, how would it look to see Star Destroyer sized ships towing chunks of DS2 decks and showing them being fitted into the main body (be it during Vader's arrival or the Emperor's)?

Maybe the dish area could be left empty/open (to give the visual of the super laser being the last thing to be finished), so later when the Emperor uses it you can see the lasers coming from the core to the outer ring, then shooting and reconverging into the laser. You could fill the void inside the dish (down to the reactor) with multiple layers of spiderweb like superstructure, to further emphasize the spider web behind the Emperor's chair.