Hmm, as in real-life (tm) much of what makes a "successfull" home-base is Location, Location, Location.
If you don't like the looks of the sector you're building the base in, that tends to sap away your desire to build the base, and it withers away.
If it is "too close" to another homebase (or even just an admin's base) it might not get any visitors, because they're going to those other bases.
(and if it's too close to your own faction's main shipyard, then it's really not going to do very well)
If it is "too far" from the main role-play segments/regions of the server, then visitors will be few and far between, as the travel times to and from verge on "atrocious".
As to what goes into the station itself?
I'm fond of a well-laid out roleplay station.
Use ALL the sorts of rooms a real~ish station would need.
Bedrooms, and their associated living quarters.
Bathing facilities. (toilets, showers, maybe a proper bath)
recreation facilities. Gymnasiums, swimming pools, spleef courts.
at least one "dive bar". (because it doesn't feel real without some scum and villany)
a transporter bay.
A medical bay. Preferably with it's own exterior access for ambulance arrivals.
The Coning Bay. (literally, wherever you put the undeathinators)
Cargo rooms, because a real station would have to store all the food and repair material somewhere.
Speaking of food, a Mess hall/cafeteria, the Kitchens, and possibly some farms. (you're a station, you've got the option of building these)
A reactor room, and the requisite "control" room. (extra bonus points if the control room actually controls something noticeable in the reactor room)
a hangar bay (or three) for Fighter/Shuttlecraft.
Possibly some Maintenance rooms.
A drone-bay/rack, if your faction even uses drone-craft, along with the control rooms for them.
Several meeting rooms, preferably with different decor for each one.
A Grand Ballroom just for the hell of it, and a Discotheque/danceclub.
a fully-sealed "shipyard", being used as a holodeck. (multiple "ship" designs that are really just rooms, and NEVER undock them)
(I think ToasterBorst pioneered that one, and it was damn brilliant.)
many - many lounges for crew and visitors to relax in.
Given all those types of rooms, you may want to build some Trams/elevators for ease-of-access, or just connect everything via transporter.
Onwards to lounge placement!
Lounges are important, the best ones are expansive, and "observe" something interesting or pretty. (a nearby black-hole, several near-ish planets, a nearby station, even just an asteroid field.)
If you are allowed to have a shipyard as part of the homebase (some servers won't let you do so), have at least one lounge overlooking/looking into said shipyard, as seeing new ships being built/old ones getting upgraded is often fun.
Another lounge should overlook the ship-docking area/areas. Watching ships arriving and departing can be fun too.
Regarding that possible shipyard:
even though it goes contrary to build-symmetry standards, make sure to build your shipyard so the long-axis matches up with "galactic north" you'll find it so much easier to fly into and out of if you can just "align to galaxy" and fly straight in. (stations can't align, and they spawn decidedly un-aligned, so their symmetry ends up a bit diffrent from Ships.)
As to how these rooms are supposed to look? That's up to you.
The specific arrangement of those rooms? Up to you, mostly.
Some rooms really ought to be nearby to other rooms.
For example: the Mess-Hall/Cafeteria really ought to be near~ish to the Kitchens. (and possibly near-ish to the living quarters/Bedrooms
The Showers, probably ought to be near the Gymnasiums/sport rooms AND the living quarters/Bedrooms. (assuming shower stalls aren't built into the Gym and bedrooms)
Maintenance corridors/rooms should be near to things that would be needing maintenance. Reactors, Shuttlebays, sensor arrays Etc, etc.
