Despite its thoroughly contemporary setup, the 3,400-seat venue’s aesthetic nods to Old Hollywood and the grandeur of the Golden Age movie palaces like the Pantages and the nearby TCL Chinese Theatre.

The 90th Academy Awards, where The Shape of Water won Best Picture.

Photo: ©A.M.P.A.S.

The 91st Oscars at the Dolby Theatre.

Photo: Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences / Todd Wawrychuk / Kate Noelle

The 94th Oscars ceremony was cohosted by Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, and Amy Schumer.

Photo: Kyusung Gong / Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences

When it was discovered that open-air environments were better suited for awards ceremonies over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy Awards show was moved to LA’s Union Station in 2021 to accommodate. The event made its way back home to the Dolby in 2022.

The 2024 Academy Awards

AD spoke to the show’s executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor, as well as production designer Alana Billingsley (who worked alongside co-production designer Misty Buckley), to get the scoop on the ceremony’s 96th installment. “We decided it was going to be immersive, innovative, inclusive, and at the same time intimate,” Kapoor tells AD of this year’s version. “We looked at every single angle of the show and how presenters would walk into the space. And that every angle, no matter where [director] Hamish [Hamilton] wanted to shoot, looked beautiful, and that really led us to this new area that we’ve designed, which we’re calling Winners Walk.”

The brand new Winners Walk area, where award recipients will go immediately after getting their trophy.

Photo: Richard Harbaugh

As its name suggests, the winners will proceed directly from the stage through the space, built specifically to receive them after one of the highlights of their lives. Billingsley names Tadao Ando and Oscar Niemeyer as two of the core touchstones who inspired the area’s look. “When they are no longer in front of the 5,000 people in the Dolby, something releases and it’s just them and their Oscar,” Billingsley says. “That [moment] has been captured in some really great backstage still photography, which has been really rich, but what we decided to do is continue the elegance and the intimacy of that space.” In contrast to that intimate moment, the designers for this year’s Oscars hoped to craft something Kapoor likens to a “hug” for the onstage event.