One of our favorite parts of the Oscars is the production design, including the set designs for the Dolby Theatre.
Take a look back with us for a visual history of the designs at the Dolby Theatre (formerly the Kodak Theatre).
We plan to add to the history over time to include ceremonies from long past.
Upcoming:
Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley, who also won Emmys for their work on the 96th Oscars, will return to designing the 2025 Academy Awards. Read more.
2024 (96th)
Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley returned as production designers in 2024 for the 96th Oscars.
The 2024 set aimed to be immersive, innovative, and occasionally intimate, with a warm and enveloping feel resembling a hug.
"The concept for this year was to design a contemporary space where people can meet, exchange, create. Like a modern-day plaza," Buckley said ahead of the show. "The finishes are soft plaster, warm whites, and tones that pull the whole design together."
Both are set to return for the 2025 ceremony.
2023 (95th)
Buckley has designed world tours and productions for such artists as Ariana Grande, Kacey Musgraves and Coldplay, including the band’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. She also designed the 2021 GRAMMYS, the London 2012 Paralympics Closing Ceremony, the 2015 Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony, the 2022 Commonwealth Games ceremonies, the Brit Awards and numerous television productions for the BBC and ITV. Buckley earned a BAFTA nomination for her work with Stormzy at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival and Emmy nominations for her production design of the 2021 GRAMMYS and Disney’s “The Little Mermaid Live!.”
Billingsley was an art director on six previous Oscars broadcasts, for which she earned five Emmy nominations and won two Emmys. Additional credits include “The Kennedy Center Honors,” “The Primetime Emmy Awards,” “GRAMMYS,” “CMA Awards,” “BET Awards” and numerous other live television productions.
Both returned for the 2024 ceremony.
"With its revelatory return to the Dolby, the Academy Awards will be a truly immersive experience. We are decking over large sections of the audience to have winners and presenters literally immersed by their peers," Korins shared on Twitter.
Korins' 2019 design featured a large proscenium arch, called the "Crystal Cloud," projection mapping, and 40,000 real roses on stage.
The 90th Academy Awards in 2018 saw the last stage design by Derek McLane.
McLane was first hired for the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 by then-Oscars producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The Tony Award-winning production designer added more awards to his name since taking on the Oscars gig. McLane earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations for every year he worked on the Oscars telecasts and won in 2014.
2022 (94th)
David Korins was announced production designer for the 94th Academy Awards a few weeks before the ceremony, but he'd been working on dreaming up the Oscars design for months.
Best know for his work for Broadway, including the Tony Award-winning musicals “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” as well as “Beetlejuice,” Korins first designed for the 91st Academy Awards.
The biggest feature of the design in 2022 was the revamped seating in the orchestra section near the Dolby stage.
"With its revelatory return to the Dolby, the Academy Awards will be a truly immersive experience. We are decking over large sections of the audience to have winners and presenters literally immersed by their peers," Korins shared on Twitter.
Watch Korins explain the set to Janai Norman on "Good Morning America."
The last time the audience was reconfigured for the Dolby Theatre was more than a decade ago when David Rockwell designed the show for the 81st and 82nd Academy Awards. (Read more about those designs here.)
"The Academy Awards are rare in that there is no 'script' to drive the look," Korins said on Twitter. "At what feels like an important time for humanity, I feel humbled to be making a statement about where we are headed in the future with this design."
Set design previews were shared with People Magazine, Architectural Digest and Town & Country Magazine.
The designer told the magazines that his designs are meant to evoke Hollywood's Golden Age, with a theme of "electricity and elegance."
Throughout the ceremony, there will be three different sets and moods.
"Especially for television it is important to create a lot of depth. I looked at a lot of optical illusions and played with Old Hollywood motifs and materials," he told Town & Country Magazine. "I wanted to look back at where we have been—and especially acknowledge the past couple of years, but also look to the future and show where we can go."
Viewers can expect a "portal that looks into the future."
"It has to do with an incredibly deep and incredibly forward-thinking sort of future-forward view," Korins told Architectural Digest. "In that future, we trade in the currency of elegance and electricity."
90,000 Swarovski crystals
It wouldn't be an Oscars stage without the glitter and sparkle of Swarovski crystals.
Korins will employ 90,000 of the shimmering gems, included in the artful shell of flat orbs and moving pieces.
Swarovski crystal curtains and other elements are a staple for recent Oscar designs and 2022 is no different
2021 (93rd)
Special pandemic year ceremony at Union Station Los Angeles.
The ceremony was like none other. Because of COVID-19 restrictions and safety protocols, the ceremony took place mostly at Union Station Los Angeles (there was a limit of 170 people inside) — with some segments at the traditional Oscars home, the Dolby Theatre, and pre-taped Original Song performances.
One performance was recorded in Húsavík, Iceland, and the other four at the Dolby Family Terrace of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
2020 (92nd)
In 2020, the Oscars stage saw a "swirling cyclone" of Swarovski Crystals thanks to Jason Sherwood, production designer for the 92nd Academy Awards.
He described the set design to Architectural Digest: “I wanted to create a design that would feel as complex, encompassing, and dimensional as the cultural impact of the films themselves.”
2019
Korins' 2019 design featured a large proscenium arch, called the "Crystal Cloud," projection mapping, and 40,000 real roses on stage.
The 90th Academy Awards in 2018 saw the last stage design by Derek McLane.
McLane was first hired for the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 by then-Oscars producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The Tony Award-winning production designer added more awards to his name since taking on the Oscars gig. McLane earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations for every year he worked on the Oscars telecasts and won in 2014.
2018
Timelapse of the designs by Derek McLane:
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2009
For his first stint as Oscars production designer, David Rockwell did something unique inside the then-named Kodak Theatre.
Here's how The New York Times described it in 2009: "The biggest change involves reimagining some of the seating arrangements in concert with redesigning the landscape of the stage, including a new, curvaceous thrust. The novel new topography will allow more interesting camera work and more varied and streamlined entrances and exits."
What Rockwell created was a more intimate show. Scene and prop changes unfolded right before the audience. For both of his ceremony designs, Rockwell put the orchestra on stage, allowing nominees to be only steps from the action for a "communal party experience." With the hanging chandeliers, the theatre turned into a club atmosphere.
